Other Editions of the <i>Aurora Australis

AURORA AUSTRALIS

Other Editions of the Aurora Australis

Launched: 26 September 2010. Last updated: 16 January 2019.

1 Aurora Australis. The British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909. Preface by Lord Shackleton. Introduction by John Millard. First Public Edition. Alburgh, Harleston, Norfolk: Bluntisham Books and The Paradigm Press, 1986. ISBN: 0 948285 06 0. £29.75. Cloth covered boards with AURORA AUSTRALIS in gilt and the Penguin Logotype in red on the front cover. Printed illustrated dustjacket. Printed in Great Britain by Paradigm Press, Gateshead. Leaf size: 261mm tall.
[ii] Frontispiece (An annotated illustration from Raymond Priestley's copy naming the expedition members.);
v-vi Preface by Lord Shackleton;
vii-xx Introduction by John Millard which includes
   Plate 1 (The front cover of a copy of Aurora Australis…),
   Plate 2 (The inside cover showing the stencil on the original packing case…),
   Plate 3 (Type case and printing press in Joyce and Wild's "Rogue's Retreat"…),
   Plate 4 (An advertisement for the Albion Press…);
xxi-xv blank pages;
xvi Presentation inscription from Ernest Shackleton;
xvii blank page;
Black and white title page [1] - A Giant Tick was Investigating the Carcase. [189];
[190-192], blank pages.

The illustrated title page is reproduced in black and white not in color. The Penguin Logotype is reproduced in red wherever it so appears in the original. The chapter dividers and plate titles on separate pages are printed in red [15, 53, 57, 61, 73, 77, 81, 89, 97, 111, 115, 119, 139, 151, 171, 177, 189].

This was also issued in a special limited edition of 58 copies (which was the number of the original copies that had been located at the time of publication by the census of copies carried out by John Millard and Robert Stephenson).

This is what a flyer from Bluntisham Books said at the time:

"Both the original paper type and the boards have been closely matched in the facsimile. It is printed in black and red on 115gsm handmade, watermarked, acid free deckle edged paper (Chester Double Crown) made by Barcham Green at Hayle Mill in Kent.
Quarterbound in calf and 3-ply plywood with chamfered edges, blind-tooled with the title and the "Sign of the Penguins". Sheets punched and threaded onto silken ties.
Size of the boards: 210 x 275 mm.
Supplied with a 24 page booklet containing a Preface by Lord Shackleton and a detailed account of the history of the book by John Millard, who has spend five years tracing copies of Aurora Australis. Presented in a specially strengthened, dustproof, cloth-covered library box.
PRICE £295 post free (airmail and/or registration extra). Available July

On the inner upper board there is the stencil, all in caps, upside down, running from the upper right to the lower left: ITHCA The last letter appears to be I; the first letter possibly a portion of a W. Therefore WITHCAI. This stencilling is quite odd. Although there are many instances of the stencilling appearing upside down, there are no instances of it appearing diagonally. And no recorded stencilling includes these letters. What they read is hard to know. The stencilling in Copy 200, the Bluntisham/Walcot copy, that was used for the trade edition of the facsimile, is BUTTER.
There is no stencilling on the inner lower board.
The cord that binds the sheets is not the usual light green but white. Why is a mystery as green cord would certainly be available for this facsimile.
The text variant is A, in other words the Shekels illustration is present. And the plume appears above Erebus on the title page.
The inscription is the same as in Copy 200, the Bluntisham/Walcot copy.
The 24 page booklet mentioned repeats the content from the Introduction to the

2 Aurora Australis. Introduction by Mary P. Goodwin. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1988. Copyright 1988 SeTo Publications Ltd. ISBN: 1 85310 060 9. £12.95. Paper covered boards. Printed illustrated dustjacket. Leaf size: 248mm tall.
[i] The publisher's thanks to the Alexander Turnbull Library (its Kinsey copy of the Aurora was used in this production) and Mary P. Goodwin, who wrote the introduction. Sir Joseph Kinsey's bookplate is reproduced.
[ii] Copyright page.
[iii] Title page for this edition.
[iv] The winter base of the British Antarctic Expedition (photo).
[v] Portrait images and biographical information on Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and Sir Joseph Kinsey.
[vi] Blank page.
[vii] Contents.
[viii] Blank page.
ix-x Foreword (includes photograph: 'Aurora and Ponies', at Cape Royds, just outside the hut).
xi-xxiii Introduction by Mary P. Goodwin. Included are the following images: Wild, Shackleton, Marshall and Adams about the Nimrod… (photo); Inside the hut at Cape Royds (drawing); Joyce and Wild at the press (photo); Members of the team inside the hut, busy at work repairing a sledge (photo); Bernard Day's motor car (photo); Farthest South (photo).
[xxiv] Blank page.
Color title page [1] - [181] concluding page of Bathybia.
[182], Blank page.
[Lacking is the Dedication page; unclear whether that is lacking in the original.]

The illustrated title page is reproduced in color. The Penguin Logotype is reproduced in black and white although it is often red in the original. The chapter dividers and plate titles on separate pages are printed in black and white although they are red in the original.
The pastedown endpapers are photographic reproductions of the original, i.e. no stenciling in the inside front cover and [JU]LIENNE | SOUP stenciling in the inside back cover. The free endpapers, both of which are the same, reproduce the signature page of The Antarctic Book, the third volume of the deluxed edition of The Heart of the Antarctic.

Note: 1988 also saw the publication of this title by Bay Books in Sydney. In all likelihood, this is the same book but appearing under a different imprint. Several listings on AbeBooks.com give the Bay Books imprint as Palo Alto, California. Also, apparently some editions carry the imprint of Airlife Publishing and others of SeTo Publications but, again, are presumably all the same save the imprint. Some of these editions appeared in paperback as well. I have only seen the one described here.

This was also issued in the same year in a facsimile edition of 375 copies (with an additional 20 copies numbered I to XX being retained by the publishers) by SeTo Publishing, Auckland, New Zealand.

Quarterbound in calf and 3-ply plywood with chamfered edges, the title and the "Sign of the Penguins" logotype stamped in blind. Sheets punched and threaded with green cord duplicating the original. The stenciling duplicates that of the "Julienne Soup" copy at the Alexander Turnbull Library (Kinsey copy), i.e. no stenciling on the inside front cover and [J]ULIENNE | SOUP on the inside back cover (in this case the entire letter U appearing, not just a small portion). Size 190 x 260 mm.
Supplied with a 20 page booklet which includes some but not all the front matter from the trade edition above, i.e.: Portrait images and biographical information on Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and Sir Joseph Kinsey; Foreword (includes photograph: 'Aurora and Ponies', at Cape Royds, just outside the hut); Introduction by Mary P. Goodwin. Included are the following images: Wild, Shackleton, Marshall and Adams about the Nimrod… (photo); Inside the hut at Cape Royds (drawing); Joyce and Wild at the press (photo); Inside Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds (photo) [not in the trade edition]; Bernard Day's motor car (photo); Farthest South (photo); Tabular icebergs grounded at Cape Royds [not in the trade edition]. Also included and not in the trade edition: Two short items regarding sale prices of the Aurora, in 1912 and 1986, and a four-page Interview with Lieut. Shackleton from the Daily Telegraph of June 12, 1909. [In the trade edition but not in this booklet: The winter base of the British Antarctic Expedition (photo).]
Unlike the trade edition, this edition includes the dedication page. Presented in a plywood case with leather labels on the top: AURORA | AUSTRALIS on the upper one and the Penguin Logotype on the lower one. The top of the case is held to the body with the same green twisted cord used in the book itself.
PRICE: The price does not appear in the copy in hand.

[1] Title page for this edition.
[2] Copyright page.
[3-4] Publisher's Note.
[5] Raymond Priestley quote.
[6] Blank page.
[7] Dedication page.
[8] Blank page.
[9] Introduction by Alexandra Shackleton.
[10] Blank page.
[11-12] Foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary.
[13-14] Editor's Preface.
[15] Additional Preface.
[16] Blank page.
[17] Contents.
[18] Blank page.
13-107 [note: pagination should begin with 19]
108 Blank page.
109-131 [various backmatter unrelated to the Aurora]
[This is a cheap and poorly produced edition. It has been reset. The original title page is not included. All other illustrations are grouped together and appear in black and white.]

4 Aurora Australis di E. H. Shackleton from Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition 1907-1908. Bergamo: Leading Edizioni, www.leadingedizioni.com. Printed in October 2011 at www.eprinting.it
"The present work has been drawn in 550 numbered coipies, on paper Fedrigoni Arcoprint ivory 100g/sqm for the first centenary of the achievement of the South Pole (R,. Amundsen, December 14, 1911)."
"Two volumes in 19 x 24.7 cm format; limited edition to 550 numbered copies; 440 pages in ivory paper 100g / m2 printed in 1/1 col., with 10 original illustrations and 25 photos in volume II; leather binding, packaging in a box."
"Anastatic reproduction of the English edition printed in Antarctica, 1908. Fully translated into Italian, with two prefaces by Carlo Baroni and Mary P. Goodwin."
"Under the patronage of: Società Geografica Italiana, Roma, Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, and Comitato Glaciologico Italiano."

Two volumes in a slipcase. Quarter bound, paper covered boards. Leaf size: 248mm tall. €131. ISBN: 660016221X.

The original which this facsimile uses does not have the illustration "Many Shekels Were Needed for the Ship to go Forth" and thus is Variant B. The title-page has the plume and thus is Variant A.
There doesn't seem to be any indication of which copy of the original Aurora Australis was used in this production. It's not the one used in No. 1 above which includes the illustration. The copy used for the Airlife edition (No. 2 above) is Copy 30, the Kinsey copy at the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand (as stated on the flyleaf of the dustjacket). As this copy is one of the few without the illustration, we assume that is the copy used.

Volume I is the Aurora Australis in English. Unnumbered pages, as it originally appeared.

Volume II is the Aurora Australis in Italian, 177 numbered pages. The contents are as follows:

[1] Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, biographical note. 2pp.
[2] George Marston, biographical note. 1p.
[3] Preface, by Carlo Baroni. 13pp.
[4] The geographical South Pole and the magnetic South Pole. 2pp.
[5] Bibliography. 3pp.
[6] Introduction, by Mary P. Goodwin. 13pp.
[7] A variety of black and white illustrations (journal entry, maps, plans, photographs) relating to the Nimrod expedition and the Aurora Australis. 25 images on 17pp.
[8] Captions of the Illustrations. 3pp.
[9] The Aurora Australis, in Italian. 175pp.
[10] Translator's Notes, by Silvia Maconi. 1p.
[This is a nicely produced and presented edition.]

AURORA AUSTRALIS

Other Editions of the Aurora Australis

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