Antarktis’ Hjarta [The Heart of the Antarctic]

Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907—1909 [Translated into Swedish by Carl Forsstrand].

By Ernest Shackleton

Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners, 1910, 2 volumes, thick sm4to (10" x 7"). The Very Scarce first Swedish edition of Shackleton’s highly important narrative. Illustrated the same as the first British edition with the sepia portrait frontispiece of Shackleton in Volume I, and sepia frontis of Mawson, Davis and Mackay in Volume II, 12 color pastel plates by the expedition artist George Marston, numerous black and white plates (several folding panoramas) and 3 large folding maps in the rear pocket with one fold out panorama—the complete set. Publisher’s original sea-blue cloth with bright gilt lettering and gilt decorations of a polar explorer planting a Union Jack on the upper covers and with identical though smaller decorations and gilt lettering on the spines. Vol I: xlii, 331pp, list of illustrations; Vol II: 408pp, indexed, 4 pocketed maps; original sea blue green cloth with only a touch of mellowing to the spines and upper cover edge of Volume II, embossed penguin on back cover of each volume. Bearing the attractive book plate inside each front cover of Swedish mathematican Severin Wigert. 2 Volume set in excellent condition. Very Scarce.

—Rosove 305 - #7 footnote.

Swedish explorers were very active in the national campaigns to chart and explore the polar regions of the planet, so this quick production of this translation would be expected. Shackleton’s narrative of the “Nimrod” voyage and expedition of 1907—1909 is not only one of the classics of Polar exploration, but a great read in its own right. Shackleton had three goals for the mission and divided the company into three groups: one would set out to reach the Pole, another to plant a flag at the South Magnetic Pole, and the third to explore the Ross Barrier. This ambitious program was kept faithfully in the foreground, and although it was not possible to fulfill every detail of it, the mission is regarded as a a triumphant success. Text in Swedish.