The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard - 1922

London: Constable and Company Limited, 1922. First edition. Hardcover. Here is a first edition of “one of the undisputed classics of exploration literature” in near very good condition, particularly given the edition’s inherent fragility. The publisher’s original bindings of tan linen over blue-gray paper-covered boards remain square and firmly attached, with overall wear particularly to spine ends and corners, and soiling and staining to the boards. There is a superficial horizontal tear to the foot of the Volume II spine cloth and general fraying to the spine ends of both volumes. The original paper spine labels are largely intact except for an irregular loss at the top of the Volume I label to a maximum depth of half an inch. The publisher-supplied duplicate spine labels remain tipped onto the front free endpapers. The blue-gray endpapers are intact save for cosmetic splitting on the front pastedown of Volume I (not affecting binding integrity). The numerous illustrations and maps are present including the foldout panoramas and color reproductions of expedition watercolors. Spotting is substantially confined to first and final pages of each volume and the untrimmed page edges. We find no previous ownership marks. At 24, Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886-1959) was the youngest member of Robert Falcon Scott’s fatal Terra Nova Expedition (1910-1913) which, among other objectives, sought to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. Born to wealth, the young Cherry “sought meaning and direction” and “He found both when he met the inspirational scientist, Bill Wilson, through whom he obtained a place on Scott's expedition.” Acutely myopic and bespectacled and with no previous exploration experience, Cherry was an unlikely Expedition choice. His “pluck, charm and unflagging enthusiasm” led crewmates to bestow the nickname “Cheery.” During the winter of 1911, Cherry, along with Wilson and Lieutenant Henry Bowers made a trip to Cape Crozier to collect Emperor penguin eggs for what became the Natural History Museum in London. “Cherry, Wilson and Birdie Bowers hauled 750 pounds of equipment 67 miles each way through the dark Antarctic winter to obtain emperor penguin embryos, never before seen by anyone except the penguins themselves. They nearly died in temperatures dropping to minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit, sometimes marching as little as a mile and a half in a day...” Cherry’s clothing froze. His teeth shattered. “It was as if three men in mere terrestrial garb had been tossed into howling outer space.” But they survived, forming an intense bond. When they parted, Cherry did not know that when he next saw them, they would be lying dead at their last camp with Scott, whom they accompanied on the final push to the South Pole. Cherry set out towards Scott with food supplies, accompanied only by a dog team and its Russian boy driver, but, through no fault of Cherry’s, the effort failed. A 1959 obituary said, “Cherry-Garrard could never forget the expedition and subconsciously, against all reason, felt that he should have gone on alone to try to meet his friends, which would only have added two more deaths to the tragedy.” Cherry’s health and spirit were permanently impaired, but this did not prevent his writing this remarkable account of his experience – a story that is gripping and humane and even tinged with humor: “Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised.” In writing he had the encouragement and support of his neighbors, George Bernard Shaw and his wife, and it was reportedly Shaw who chose the title. “… he did not set out to write another hagiographic tribute. He wrote in order to tell a true story… he correctly understood that ultimately it was ''the spirit of the men, 'the response of the spirit,' which is interesting rather than what they did or failed to do.''