Lot 40
Cherry-Garrard, Apsley
The Worst Journey in the World
Auction: Books & Manuscripts | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 1 to 78
Description
Antarctic 1910-1913. London: Constable and Company Limited, 1922. First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, original ‘polar binding’ of quarter linen, blue-grey paper boards, title-labels to spines, edges untrimmed, 58 plates including colour frontispieces, all with tissue-guards, 10 folding panoramas, 4 fold-out maps, 1 further map, without duplicate title-labels tipped in to free endpapers, spine labels browned, boards marked, corners worn, some foxing including to half-titles, browning to fore edges, a few short closed tears to folding-map stubs, not affecting images [Rosove 71.A1] (2)
Footnote
'Cherry-Garrard's book has often been referred to as the finest polar book ever written. Scott's diary left many facets of the expedition and the experiences of its men untold: it was Cherry-Garrard who pulled the entire story of the main party together. He was uniquely suited to do so. He was a member of the main party for the expedition's entire duration, had access to unpublished sources, and was the only member of the Winter Journey to survive the expedition. Most of all, he had the sensibilities and extraordinary literary genius necessary to cope with the complex and tragic subject of the Polar Journey ... The book Cherry-Garrard left behind is a monument immortalizing the expedition in the annals of Antarctic exploration and geographic exploration in general' (Rosove).