NB: This work was the first book completely printed and produced on the Antarctic Continent. In 1907 Shackleton embarked on an expedition to Antarctica aboard the Nimrod in an attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole. Having already visited the polar regions with Robert Falcon Scott on the Discovery Voyage 1903-04, Shackleton recognised the importance of maintaining moral among crew members during the dark winter months; and so to keep boredom at bay, the expedition took with them a printing press, an etching press, quantities of paper and ink and other materials needed to write, typeset, illustrate and bind a full-length publication. This book was produced under extremely difficult conditions in the cramped hut at Cape Royds on Ross Island - the expedition's base and home to fifteen men. Frank Wild and Ernest Joyce had learned the essentials of printing in England prior to departure, but with outdoor temperatures of minus 50 deg. or less, and indoor temperatures often below freezing, they had to move a candle back and forth under the ink plate to keep the ink from freezing solid. Expedition artist George Marston illustrated the volume with etchings and colour lithographs. Crew biologist James Murray, working on his specimens alongside Marston's etching press, noted "I've seen him during a whole night pull of half a dozen wrong ones for one good print, and he did not use so much language over it as might have been expected". Bernard Day, the expedition's motor mechanic, bound the book using venesta board - an early form of plywood - from packing cases to make book covers. These boards often bear stencilled letters indicating the original contents of the packing cases such as bottled fruit, chocolate, or as in this case, marmalade. They then used old pony harness and seal skin for the spine and hinges which secured with cords.

About 100 copies were produced; the exact figure is unknown as copies were not numbered. Of these it is thought about 25 to 30 were bound as in this example. The contents also differ somewhat from copy to copy.

Although produced mainly for presentation to members, friends and backers of Shackleton's expedition, relatively few copies are in fact signed or inscribed in any way; this copy is dedicated to Viscountess Grey, wife of the fourth Earl and one time Governor General of Canada.

£10000-18000

Results: £46,000 which with the buyer's premium took it to £53,000 or ca. $92,000, probably the highest an Aurora has ever sold for at auction. Here's what was said in the local paper:

Polar book is sold off for £53,000

By Tony Henderson, The Journal

A book printed in the Antarctic which ended up in a Northumberland stables yesterday became the most expensive volume to be sold in the North-East.

One of only 100 produced at explorer Ernest Shackleton's overwintering base, it was sold for £53,000 by Newcastle auction house Anderson & Garland.

What is technically the first book printed in the Antarctic had been signed by Shackleton to Lady Grey, the wife of Albert Henry Grey, 4th Earl Grey whose family seat was Howick Hall in Northumberland.

And it will be staying in the North-East as a Northumberland polar enthusiast beat off national and international interest, including bids from New York and Canada.

The book's covers are made from the thin wooden packing of a crate which contained marmalade and pony harness and seal skin were used for the binding. The 1908 British Antarctic Expedition was the second of four to the South Pole by Shackleton.

He took a small printing and etching press to relieve boredom and keep up morale during the long winter months holed up in the expedition base. Team members wrote items, illustrated by lithographs and etchings.

Auction house book specialist John Anderson discovered the book, which was sold by a descendant of Lady Grey, in a tea chest in stables.

He said: "It was a privilege to handle a book which resonates with history. It is an evocative rarity. Not only is the book phenomenally rare, but Shackleton did not sign every book, but he did sign this one to Lady Grey."

The books, never numbered, are known by the stenciled descriptions of what the packing cases contained, such as the chocolate, bottled fruit and coffee editions.

—From The Journal. 23 March 2006

Aurora Australis 1908-09 [comprising Ten Articles and Poems by Members of Shackleton's First Antarctic Expedition with a Preface and Additional Preface by E.H. Shackleton]. Published at the Winter Quarters of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907, during the Winter Months of April, May, June, July, 1908. Illustrated with Lithographs and Etchings; by George Marston. Printed at the Sign of 'The Penguins' ; by Joyce and Wilde. [sic] Latitude 77° ...32' South, Longitude 166° ...12' East, Antarctica [1908].
[one of 100 copies] illustration in colours on title and 11 other full-page illustrations (10 printed on separate leaves or tipped in), each of the articles preceded by a blank leaf and a sub-title printed in red, 9 of the plates preceded by a leaf with the title printed in red, [168] pp. (not including blanks and separately printed plates).
4to, orig. qtr. leather, backstrip lettered in blind, bevelled wooden boards prepared by Bernard C. Day from the expedition's Venesta provision cases (the inside of the front covered lettered 'British Anta Expedition' and the inside of the back cover lettered 'Butter'), the wood-lined leather back detached and rubbed, bottom edge of front board chipped, the boards and leaves laced together individually with green twine, edges untrimmed.       £825
'Joyce, Wild, Marston and Day during the winter months spent much time in the production of the "Aurora Australis" the first book ever written, printed, illustrated and bound in the Antarctic.' Shackleton: Heart of the Antarctic (1909), I. 216-7.
'A hundred copies were printed, but none for sale, and the work is already a rarity for bibliophiles'. Mill: Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton (1923), p.180.

Rare Shackleton book is auctioned for £43,000

"The fifth Aurora Australis went with Wild to South Africa and somehow it was acquired by POB Frost and eventually found its way to Brian Frost in Cape Town.
In 1992 Brian Frost, who was  thinking of selling the book, contacted Spink & Son who advised him that it was worth approximately £10,000.00…
Brian Frost eventually sold the book through Christies on the 25th October 1995 for an unusually low price of £1,600 to a buyer in the USA. The inside front cover revealed the letters GRIFFITHS, McALIS… EXPORT PROVISION M... LIVERPO[ool]' with pencilled note BAKES BEANS, below that  similarly stencilled BLAC[k]... BOTTLE. The book had been restored by the conservators of the South African library in Cape Town for the sum of R800 which resulted in obscuring the original stitching holes in the inner margins. The book had its own leather-lined cloth solander box, again restored, which also contained a portion of the original spine and a length of the green twine used in the original binding.
Christie’s informed Brian Frost that when cataloguing the book they discovered the sketch 'Under the shadow of Erebus' by Marston was missing and with the book incomplete its original estimated value of £5,000 - £8,000 had depreciated to £1,500/£2,000…The buyer is unknown."

A fine copy of the first book printed in Antarctica. The flyleaf is inscribed "To Mrs. Lysaght from the Editor E.H. Shackleton with best wishes Feb. 1910", and with a postal cover addressed to Mrs. Lysaght in Shackleton's hand neatly tipped in bearing stamps of New Zealand overprinted "King Edward VII Land", one bearing the expeditionary postmark, the other with "British Antarctic Expedition 1907" printed in blue below.
Gerald Lysaght was a steelmaker from Scunthorpe who first met Shackleton in 1899 when the latter was an officer on the Union Castle liner Tantallon Castle. He was a signficant sponsor of both the Nimrod and 1907 expeditions [sic].
This work was printed at Cape Royds during the Antarctic winter months of 1908. The wooden boards for binding were taken from the expedition's packing cases and frequently, as here, exhibit stencilling. The method of binding devised by the mechanic Day involved punching holes in the inner margins to be secured by a cord, whilst the leather spine was made from old harness. Neither the 'sewing' nor the 'binding' were practical for reasonable use and have failed to some degree in almost surviving copies. This copy is in an unusually fine state the only defect mentionable being a few leaves slightly strained at the cords. The boards are in remarkably fresh condition.      £10,000-12,000

The first book printed in Antarctica.
This copy bears the inscription: "To my grandson Nicholas J. Fright on his 21st. Birthday 31 December 1970. To keep in memory of his great-uncle Frank Wild, who made this book in the Antarctic. With best wishes, Laurence C. Wild." Laurence C. Wild was a brother of Frank Wild.
This work was printed at Cape Royds during the Antarctic winter months of April-July 1908. The wooden boards used for binding were taken from the expedition's packing cases and frequently exhibit stencilling, as here: BRITISH ANT / SHIP NIM / LYTT on the inside of the upper board. The method of binding devised by the mechanic day involved punching holes in the inner margins to be secured by a cord, while the spine was made from harness leather. Neither the 'sewing' nor the 'binding' was practical for reasonable use and have failed to some degree in almost all surviving copies.