The Home of the Blizzard. Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company ('Printed at the Ballantyne Press, London & Edinburgh'), [1915] (first edition, first state).
Quarto, two volumes, xxx, 349 pages with 17 maps, plans and illustrations plus a photogravure frontispiece, 8 leaves of colour plates with captioned tissue-guards, 62 leaves of plates from photographs (all but 10 printed both sides, with 4 of the latter folding), and an errata slip tipped in at the title page; and xiv, 339 pages with 20 maps, plans and illustrations plus a photogravure frontispiece, 10 leaves of colour plates with captioned tissue-guards, and 48 leaves of plates (all but 9 printed both sides, with 5 of the latter folding).
Dark blue cloth lettered and decorated in silver; top edges gilt, others uncut; minimal signs of age and use; a near-fine set complete with the dustwrappers (albeit the first one lacks the top quarter of the front panel - including the title - and both of them are torn with minor loss elsewhere). However, Rosove (see below) states 'Dustwrappers very scarce' so we can live with them in this condition.
The superlative bibliography by Michael H. Rosove, 'Antarctica, 1772-1922. Freestanding Publications through 1999' (2001), contains much valuable information about the unusual circumstances surrounding the release of this work soon after the outbreak of the First World War (see pages 245-251). In particular, he notes that 'In keeping with Heinemann's greater confidence in American than British sales, the initial printing run was shipped off to Lippincott. These copies, which I believe should be referred to as the first state, contain an errata slip noting three errors' (page 246). The principal difference between the two issues is the collation of the plates. In this issue they are generally printed on both sides of the plate leaves; however, the number of photographs reproduced is the same. Conrad, page 208; Spence 773; Renard 1023; Rosove 217.A2a. [2 items].
Item #140636
Sold