The Crossing of Antarctica: THE COMMONWEALTH TRANS-ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1955-58.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.Stated 'First published 1958.] NFINE/NFINE. No owner inscrptn but price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,fairly clean - with exception of residue of cup ring to dw/djs' front panel,matt,wrap-around colour photographic illustrated dw/dj with dark grey (?) lettering to front and spine/backstrip; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present - a tiny closed snick at head of spine/backstrip.Top edge possibly coloured pale blue(?) with faint sporadic dust-soiling flecks or foxing,fore-edges uncoloured and brighter but also with ubiquitous,but sporadic lighter foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean - page edge foxing spots excepted,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Barely perceptible foxing to front blank+half-title and some minimal foxing to last 8pp of index and the rear blank.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain RAF blue cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip,and immaculate blue+white Antarctica map illustrated endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,v-xvpp+1-337pp [paginated] includes dedication (HM The Queen - Patron of Expedition) with author's (Fuchs) acknowledgements to reverse,Expedition's participants lists,separate contents,illustrations and b/w maps (9) lists/tables,19 chapters,a mixture of 93 b/w+colour photogravures interspersed in blocks throughout the text and the book and to the rear,a glossary,appendices (A+B - Vehicle and Aircraft specifications), an index; plus [unpaginated] blank,half-title page,double-page scenic colour photogravure illustrated title page,publisher copyright and 2pp blanks at rear.
Men have long dreamed of crossing the vast frozen wastes of the Antarctic,but not since Shackleton's last attempt to reach he Pole from the Weddell Sea in 1914 has anyone embarked on this great adventure.In turning the dream into reality Sir Vivian Fuchs has taken his place alongside Shackleton,Amundsen,and Scott,with a feat of courage and endurance that has rightly been called one of the truly heroic and magnificent achievements of the century.
On 24 November,1957,twelve men set out from Shackleton Base equipped with eight vehicles,sledges and two dog teams to cross more than two thousand miles of unexplored snow and ice.In front of them lay unknown mountain ranges and an ice wall; there were vast areas in which innumerable crevasses,hidden by thin layers of snow,threatened to engulf the vehicles as the snow coverings collapsed: there were other areas in which the winds had piled the snow into serrated iron-hard ridges of ice that produced a surface like a choppy sea suddenly frozen.To these hazards was added the dangerous phenomena of 'white-out',an atmospheric condition producing the Antarctic equivalent of a pea-soup fog,in which all sense of direction is lost.
Meanwhile,on the other side of the Antarctic continent Sir Edmund Hillary probed the immense Skelton Glacier from the Ross Sea,and blazed a trail for the crossing party to follow after they had reached the Pole.To Hillary goes the achievement of reaching the South Pole by land for the first time since Captain Scott planted the British flag there forty-six years ago.
This book is the full story told by the leader of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and by Sir Edmund Hillary,leader of the New Zealand support party. Beginning with the landing of the advance party in November 1955 to establish a base on the Weddell Sea when,like Shackleton,Fuchs found his ship trapped by ice,it tells the story of the two years of preparation and reconnaisance that led up to the final attempt.It includes the daring crossing by air in a single engined aeroplane,and the subsidiary expeditions made,during the crossing,into the mountain ranges that rear above the surface of the ice.But,above all,it is a thrilling story of men who set out into the vast loneliness of the unknown to discover what ay on and below a continent no one had ever traversed before and,in so doing, accomplished a feat of courage and endurance that will become a legend for succeeding generations. Please contact seller for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!
** UK,buyers note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if item(s) offered P/p included or free.
** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIR postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. 2/3rds of standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving long before the quoted 42 days - but not always.