lamdha books -
Catalogue of books on the Poles

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41444 Bickel, Lennard In Search of Frank Hurley Macmillan, South Melbourne, 1980. Quarto hardcover; red boards with white spine titling, illustrated endpapers; 140pp, mainly monochrome illustrations. Inscription. A few small scrapes to board edges and corners; mild spotting to upper text block edges. Red illustrated dustwrapper with wear to edges and tiny tear on lower spine extremity. Very good and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Frank Hurley's first chance came when Douglas Mawson, impressed by his energy and 'initiative' appointed him official photographer to Australia's first Antarctic expedition. He was not yet thirty years old when he defied icy winds and temperatures of 70 below to capture the classic scenes in Antarctic exploration - the dying ship Endurance crushed in the frozen pack ice of the Weddell Sea. These images alone would have earned him distinction. Five more visits south would follow, squeezed into a relentless schedule which over 58 years took him to two world wars as official photographer, involved him in pioneer aviation and near-death in a crash, and the making of the first feature films in Australia as well as a string of documentaries and drama features in London, New York and Hollywood. This is a magnificently illustrated record of a man whose legendary courage, humour and insistence on artistic perfection have earned him a place in Australian and British history. Click here to order $25

206564 Bowden, Tim The Silence Calling - Australians in Antarctica 1947-97 The Anare Jubilee History Allen & Unwin, St Leonards NSW, 1997. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 593pp., with a monochrome frontispiece, 32pp. of colour plates and many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; spine heel softened. Dustwrapper mildly rubbed and edgeworn; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $35

201396 Bowden, Tim The Silence Calling - signed copy Australians in Antarctica 1947-97: The Anare Jubilee History Allen & Unwin, St Leonards NSW, 1997. Small quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 593pp., with many colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; signed in ink by the author. Mild rubbing to dustwrapper; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. Click here to order $50

95294 Bruemmer, Fred, et al. (Dr. William E. Taylor Jr., ed.) The Arctic World Key Porter Books Ltd./Portland House/Dilithium Press Ltd., New York NY, 1989. Quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles; 256pp., with many full-colour and monochrome illustrations. Mild wear; some marks to the rear endpapers. Dustwrapper is mildly rubbed and edgeworn; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. "Taylor has smoothly organized essays by Bruemmer and five other writers who discuss seven countries in the Arctic circle: history, people, animal and plant life. Included are 130 shots in color, displaying the grandeur and austerity of mountains, icebergs and frozen seas, as well as the glories of blooms and natural wonders unique to the Northern fastnesses. Black-and-white photos, no less striking, introduce the reader to the Lapps, Eskimo families, kittiwakes, walrus communities, polar bears and other wildlife in their habitats. The book's unspoken but palpable plea is that the Arctic must be safeguarded and preserved from corruption. " Publishers Weekly Click here to order $27

74602 FitzSimons, Peter Mawson And the Ice Men of the Heroic Age: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen William Heinemann, North Sydney NSW, Australia, 2011. First edition. Octavo; hardcover; blue boards with gilt spine titling; illustrated endpapers; 737pp., monochrome plates. Minor wear; tiny scrapes at board corners and lightly toned text block and page edges; else very good to near fine in like dustwrapper. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Douglas Mawson's first experience in the Antarctic was with Shackleton's team from 1907 to 1909, when he was one of three men to reach the South Magnetic Pole. Despite sickness and hardship, he was determined to take his own expedition to continue scientific studies. This became a reality in 1911. In the same year both Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen set out separately to realise identical dreams of reaching the South Geographic Pole. FitzSimons' diary-like narrative, enables the reader to follow what is happening in the same month, in all three expeditions. With his trademark in-depth research, FitzSimons provides a compelling portrait of these great Antarctic explorers. Click here to order $25

99228 Huntford, Roland (intro.) The Shackleton Voyages: A Pictorial Anthology of the Polar Explorer and Edwardian Hero Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2002. Small square quarto hardcover; blue boards with silver gilt spine titling and decorated endpapers; 287pp., colour, monochrome and monochrome illustrations. Near fine in like dustwrapper. Shackleton's restless, independent spirit surfaced early and his wit and courage captivated and inspired final backers as well as his 'men' during the bleakest of moments. When he lost the race to the South Pole, first to the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1911 and then to his arch rival Captain Scott in 1912, he set his sights on crossing Antarctica. Once again he failed, but he turned disaster into success by returning with all he men under his command alive. After a couple of years of slavish lecturing and writing to pay off his debts in the downbeat post-war years, he raised the funds and enthusiasm for a final expedition (known as the Quest expedition, after the ship used). A romantic to the end, as Quest reached South Georgia, he died of a heart attack, aged only forty seven. Shackleton never forgave Scott for invaliding him home after their attempt to reach the South Pole in 1902-3, in part his anger was the driving force behind Shackleton's repeated expeditions to Antarctica. He proved he could endure severe climates and wild, inhospitable terrain, but above all he displayed an exceptional talent for leadership and a fanatical determination which led him, as he put it 'to go on going till one day I shall not come back'. Click here to order $32

85118 Lubbock, Basil The Arctic Whalers Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1968. Reprint. Quarto hardcover; blue boards with gilt spine titling and upper board blind-stamped titling; blue map endpapers; 483pp., monochrome frontispiece, plates and illustrations. Minor wear; mildly toned text block edges with a few faint spots on upper edges; lightly rubbed white illustrated dustwrapper with a few tiny marks and minimal wear to edges. Near fine otherwise and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. 'I had intended when planning this work to make it a complete history of all British whalers, both in the Arctic and in the South Seas, but so great has been the ground to be covered that I have been forced to leave out the South Sea side of British whaling... The day of the Arctic whaleman, known amongst seamen as the Greenlander, and considered the toughest specimen of all the men who followed the sea for a living, has long since passed, but his memory deserves to be preserved, and I feel sure that the reader of this book will find his admiration roused for as gallant a seafarer as ever trod the planks of a stout ship.' - Basil Lubbock Click here to order $55

92134 McGoogan, Ken Ancient Mariner - The Amazing Adventures of Samuel Hearne The Englishman Who Walked to the Arctic Ocean Bantam Press, London, 2004. Octavo hardcover; red boards with gilt spine titling, endpaper maps; 333pp., monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; browned and spotted text block and page edges. Very good to near fine in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. In 1757, Samuel Hearne joined the Royal Navy at the age of twelve and began a tumultuous life of exploration and adventure. He served during the Seven Years War under Capt. Samuel Hood, then joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a first mate. During this time he embarked on an overland trek in quest of a copper mine, hoping also to learn the secret of the fabled Northwest Passage. He walked with his guide - Matonabbee - for 3,500 miles, fighting weather, starvation and culture shock only to witness an horrific massacre at the mouth of the Coppermine River. His discoveries and minute observations were later written up by him in his "A Journey to the Northern Ocean". McGoogan concludes his overview by making a case that Hearne's encounter with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, after his retirement and return to London, was the inspiration for the poet's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Click here to order $25

97670 Mountevans, Admiral Lord Adventurous Life The Long-awaited Autobiography Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London. nd. (c.1947). First edition: octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 259pp., with a monochrome portrait frontispiece and 15pp. of plates likewise. Moderate wear; somewhat shaken; softening to the spine extremities; a small hole in the cloth of the upper board; text block edges toned and spotted and top edge dusted; mild offset to the endpapers; scattered foxing throughout. Dustwrapper is well-rubbed and edgeworn; light chipping to the edges, especially the spine panel extremities, with associated creasing; a hole to the bottom edge of the front panel; now backed by archival-quality white paper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. A Royal Navy officer, Evans was seconded from the Navy to the Discovery expedition to Antarctica in 1901-1904, when he served on the crew of the relief ship, and afterwards began planning his own Antarctic expedition. However, he suspended this plan when offered the post of second-in-command on Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in 1910-1913, as captain of the expedition ship Terra Nova. He accompanied Scott to within 150 miles of the Pole, but was sent back in command of the last supporting party. On the return he became seriously ill with scurvy and only narrowly survived. Subsequently he returned to his naval duties and during the first World War distinguished himself in the Battle of Dover Strait. Click here to order $25

78119 Niven, Jennifer The Ice Master The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk Macmillan Books/Macmillan Publishers Ltd., London, 2000. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titling and endpaper maps; 402pp., with 16pp. of monochrome photographic plates. Text block and page edges lightly toned; else near fine in like dustwrapper (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). It was to be the greatest and most elaborate Arctic expedition in history, with the largest scientific staff ever taken on such a journey. Its leader, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, was celebrated for his studies of Eskimo life and, with this mission, hoped to find evidence that proved his staunchly held belief that there was a last unexplored continent, hidden beneath the vast polar ice cap. In June 1913, the H.M.C.S. Karluk set sail from the Esquimalt Naval Yard in Victoria, British Columbia. Six weeks later, the arctic winter had begun, the ship was imprisoned in ice and for five months the Karluk remained frozen, drifting farther and farther off course. In January 1914, with a thunderous impact, the ice tore a hole in the vessel's hull, and the redoubtable captain, Robert Bartlett, gave orders to abandon ship. With nothing but half the ship's store of supplies and the polar ice beneath their feet, Captain Bartlett, twenty-one men, an Inuit woman and her two small daughters, twenty-nine dogs, and one pet cat were now hopelessly shipwrecked in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, hundreds of miles from land. These castaways had no choice but to try to find solid ground where they could wait while they struggled against starvation, snow blindness, a gruesome and mysterious disease, exposure to the brutal winter - and each other. Bartlett and one member of the party soon set across the ice to seek help. Nine months later, twelve survivors were rescued by a small whaling schooner and brought back to civilization. The Ice Master is an epic tale of true adventure that rivals the most dramatic fiction. Drawing on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, and even an interview with one living survivor, Jennifer Niven re-creates with astonishing accuracy and immediacy the Karluk's ill-fated journey and her crew's desperate attempts to find a way home from the icy wastes of the Arctic. Click here to order $20

58475 Ponting, Herbert & Frank Hurley Antarctic Photographs 1910 - 1916 Scott, Mawson and Shackleton Expeditions Macmillan, South Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 1979. Oblong quarto; hardcover; 119pp. monochrome plates. Minor wear only; near fine in slightly discoloured dustwrapper. Herbert Ponting joined Scott's 1910 expedition and thus became the first 'camera-artist' of the Antarctic, gave the world its first authentic view of the southland terrain with its dazzling wildlife scenes. Frank Hurley went with Mawson's 1911-13 expedition to an unexplored part of the Antarctic continent, where more daunting conditions for the photographer could not be imagined. No subsequent work surpasses the pictures made by these two, notwithstanding the unsophisticated and primitive equipment in a most hostile environment. Click here to order $35

93315 Ponting, Herbert G. The Great White South: Or With Scott in the Antarctic Gerald Duckworth, London, 1950. Reprint. Hardcover, octavo; blue boards with silver gilt spine titling and upper board motif; 299pp., monochrome plates. Moderate wear; boards spotted, frayed at edges and corners with faded and worn spine; offsetting to endpapers with some foxing to pastedown edges; toned and lightly spotted text block edges. Illustrated blue dustwrapper with missing segments on spine panel extremities, upper front edge and corners; spotting and rubbing especially to spine and rear panel; edges scraped creased chipped and worn with a few tiny tears. Good to very good with wrapper now protected in archival film and white paper backing. Click here to order $26

37748 Porter, Eliot Antarctica Hutchinson Group (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 1978. Square quarto; hardcover, with upper board titling and endpaper maps; 168pp., many full-colour illustrations. Slightly scuffed lower board edges; lightly toned text block edges. Dustwrapper slightly browned and worn along edges; some chipping; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Otherwise very good. Most people consider exploration of the planet Earth to be complete. As Eliot Porter's stunning journey of discovery reveals, in text and more than eighty photographs, Antarctica is as remote and alien to us as the airless surface of the moon. About twice the size of Australia, the southern continent contains ninety percent of the world's snow and ice. A land of awesome beauty and of unexpected colours, it is brought magnificently to life by America's master photographer who visited Antarctica on two extended voyages aboard the National Science Foundation research ship, the Hero. His photographs include the desolate South Pole, the Neumayer Passage where jagged mountains of ice fall precipitously into the sea, mysterious Deception Island, a periodically active volcano, and the several varieties of seals, penguins and whales which make up a picture gallery of the continent's animals. He photographed, as well, inside the actual huts used by Scott and Shackleton on their historic expeditions. The text includes personal adventures, the continent's remarkable natural history and its heroic age of exploration in the early twentieth century. Click here to order $32

200279 Ralston, Kathleen A Man for Antarctica The Early Life of Phillip Law Hyland House, Melbourne, 1993. Octavo hardcover; blue boards with gilt spine titling; illustrated diary entry endpapers; 236pp., monochrome plates. Very slightly rolled binding and spotting to text block edges. Very good and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film with white paper backing. This is a biography of the noted physicist and leader of Antarctic exploration, Phillip Law, covering the years 1912 to 1954. The book ends with the voyage of the Kista Dan, which resulted in the setting up of Mawson, Australia's first permanent station on the Antarctic continent. Click here to order $22

201822 [Royal Geographical Society & The Scott Polar Research Institute] (Herbert Ponting, illus.; foreword by Sir Ranulph Fiennes) With Scott to the Pole The "Terra Nova" Expedition 1910-1913; The Photographs of Herbert Ponting Allen & Unwin, Crow's Nest NSW, 2004. Quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles and decorative endpapers; 240pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; slightly shaken. Dustwrapper is lightly rubbed; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $45

200055 Scott, Captain R.F., & Dr. E.A. Wilson (Leonard Huxley, ed.; Preface by Sir Clements R. Markham) Scott's Last Expedition - Two Volumes. Vol I. being the Journals of Captain R.F. Scott, R.N., C.V.O. Vol II. being the Reports of the Journeys and the Scientific Work undertaken by Dr. E.A. Wilson and the Surviving Members of the Expedition. Smith Elder & Co. Ltd., London, 1913. First edition: two volumes, octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine and upper board titles and rules and blind rules to the upper boards; 1,209pp. [xxvipp. + 633pp. + xvipp. + 534pp.], untrimmed, top edges gilt, with two monochrome portrait frontispieces, 2 folding panoramas, 3 double-page plates and 181 plates likewise, plus 8 maps (6 folding and 1 in colour), 18 colour plates and 2 black-and-white illustrations. Moderate wear; both volumes shaken; spine extremities softened; spine of Volume I cracked; spines sunned with some chipping to Volume I; boards lightly rubbed with some mild sunning; text block edges spotted; mild offset to the endpapers; previous owner's name in ink to the flyleaves. No dustwrappers. Very good. "Scott's legacy has been buffered to and fro like the Antarctic wind over the past 100 years. In the aftermath of his death, which was not known about back home for almost another year, he was hailed as a hero by a declining Empire desperately in need of one. In later years, he has been traduced as an incompetent, indecisive amateur. Somewhere between the two, a middle ground can be found, emphasising his team's scientific discoveries and the extreme conditions they faced, without either condemning or cheerleading. Regardless, it is difficult not to feel a small Edwardian lump rising at the back of your throat when you read one of the final diary entries: 'Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.'" - Iain Hollingshead Click here to order $600

37747 Stonehouse, Bernard North Pole South Pole A Guide to the Ecology and Resources of the Arctic and Antarctic Prion, London, 1990. Quarto. Hardcover, 216pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear only; near fine in like dustwrapper. "As a young ecologist" says Bernard Stonehouse, "I spent most of my time in the Antarctic. Not until my middle years did I discover the Arctic. It was rather like discovering the opposite sex". So Stonehouse begins his discussion of the polar extremes of the planet. This is a complex and wonderful catalogue of the differences that define the two poles and the similarities which unite them. Stonehouse is passionate about what these two savage environments mean for the planet and what they mean to us as a species. There are treasures to be gained, he says, but there are dangers involved and prices to pay for thoughtless exploitation. Click here to order $25