MAWSON, Douglas. THE HOME OF THE BLIZZARD:

MAWSON, Douglas. THE HOME OF THE BLIZZARD: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911 – 1914. Two volumes, thick octavo, titles printed in two colours, with in total 196 leaves of monochrome plates (including photogravure frontispieces with titling-tissue), seven double-page plates, and two folding plates, eighteen leaves of coloured plates with titling-tissues, and three large folding tinted maps in an end-pocket to Volume II, other illustrations (including maps) in the text , original silver pictorial dark blue cloth, front boards lettered in gilt with a central vignette in silver, titled in the image “Leaning on the Wind”, a handsome set. London, William Heinemann, 1915. First edition. The classic account of Mawson’s first expedition, an epic of endurance which, together with his subsequent work in the Antarctic, forms the most significant basis to Australia’s claim to its extensive Antarctic Territory. The expedition charted the entire coastline between the Mertz Glacier and Grassberg, forming the last link in the chain that connected the discoveries of Dumont d’Urville, Wilkes, Scott, and Drygalski. Most importantly, they systematically explored King George V Land and the adjacent Terra Adelie. Mawson’s book includes a self-effacing account of his epic journey across five hundred kilometres of Adelie Land in 1912, without a tent and most of his food, one of the great feats of human endurance. Renard, 1021-2; Rosove, 217.A1; Spence, 774.