Aurora Australis (book)

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For other uses, see Aurora (disambiguation).

Aurora Australis was the "first book ever written, printed, illustrated and bound in the Antarctic”[1].

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[edit] Bibliographic details

Aurora Australis was written during the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition or the Nimrod Expedition (1908–1909) led by Ernest Shackleton. Produced entirely by members of the expedition Aurora Australis was edited by Shackleton, illustrated with lithographs and etchings by George Marston, printed by Ernest Joyce and Frank Wild, and bound by Bernard Day. The production of the Aurora Australis was one of the cultural activities Shackleton encouraged while the expedition team over-wintered at Cape Royds on Ross Island in the McMurdo Sound to ensure “the spectre know as 'polar ennui' never made its appearance”[2].

Because the copies of Aurora Australis were unnumbered it is unclear exactly how many were produced but it is believed one hundred copies were created of which less than seventy have been accounted for[3]. Shackleton may have originally intended to sell copies of Aurora Australis on his return from the Antarctic but instead they were all distributed among the members of the expedition and given to other “friends and benefactors of the expedition”[4].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shackleton, Ernest (1909). The Heart of the Antarctic: being the story of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909. London: Heinemann, vol. 1, p.217. 
  2. ^ Shackleton, Ernest (1909). The Heart of the Antarctic: being the story of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909. London: Heinemann, vol. 1, p.216. 
  3. ^ Lewis, Paul. "Shackleton's Aurora could fetch £20,000", Guardian Unlimited, 2006-03-13. Retrieved on 2008-01-14. 
  4. ^ Shackleton, Ernest (1986). Aurora Australis. Alburgh, Harleston, Norfolk: Paradigm Press, p.xx. 

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