FUCHS, Sir Vivian, and HILLARY, Sir Edmund. The Crossing of Antarctica. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58. London: Cassell, 1958.
First edition, first impression. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in silver, in the original pictorial dust jacket priced 30/- net. Map endpapers, photographic title-page spread, numerous black and white and colour photographic plates, and maps throughout.
A highly attractive signed copy of one of the great modern polar books. The Crossing of Antarctica is the official account of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-58, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs, with Sir Edmund Hillary leading the New Zealand support party. In January 1958 Hillary reached the South Pole overland; Fuchs followed later that month, and the expedition completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, in March 1958.
Signed by Vivian Fuchs on the half-title: “V. Fuchs / 1958.”
The book belongs in the same collecting field as Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen and Hillary’s Everest literature: a twentieth-century polar landmark, written by the two men most closely associated with the achievement. Signed copies dated in the year of publication are especially desirable.
A very good copy in a very good original dust jacket. The cloth is clean and bright, the silver lettering sharp, the contents clean and well preserved. The jacket is notably presentable, with some toning, light marking, rubbing and small chips to the extremities, but retaining strong impact and the original printed price.
