Aurora Australis

Produced in the winter of 1908 at the Nimrod expedition's hut on Ross Island, this is a collection of stories, sketches, and verse written by members of the British Antarctic party and printed on the ice. Pieces include an account of the climb on Mount Erebus, midwinter scenes, mess and pony-watch jokes, an encounter with emperor penguins, notes on polar biology, and a mock-medieval tale. Shackleton edited the book; other hands printed, etched, and bound it. The volume is a camp miscellany meant to pass the dark months, not a narrative of the polar journey.

Quarter-bound in brown calfskin leather with brown beechwood Venesta boards. Hand-sewn binding with green twine. Printed letterpress. Bound in green Tintoretto Ceylon paper cover blocked in brown foil. CLAMSHELL BOX Fawn linen-covered spine blocked in brown foil and front inset with a calfskin leather label blind-blocked with the ‘Printed at the Sign of “The Penguins device.