Simpson and the Magnetic hut.

£750 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Classic Ponting photograph from Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition (1910-1913), showing meteorologist George Simpson (1878-1965) outside the Magnetic hut where he spent most of his time. A 'first-class scientist', according to Cherry-Garrard, 'Sunny Jim', as he was known, installed and maintained the most sophisticated scientific instruments that had been taken to Antarctica at that time, producing reports which met with wide acclaim. He became Director of the Met Office in 1920, retiring in 1938, having been knighted in 1935. The Terra Nova expedition was supposed to be the high-water mark of the Golden Age of Antarctic exploration; led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the expedition was to have been the first to reach the South Pole, marking the event with the planting of the Union Jack flag. However the more professionally equipped Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen got there first. Nevertheless Scott's expedition will always be the one best remembered on account of the tremendous courage and bravery shown by Scott and his companions, Wilson, Bowers, Oates, and Evans on their return from the Pole in appalling conditions - perhaps best exemplified by Lawrence 'Titus' Oates who walked from the tent into a blizzard whilst suffering from frostbite and gangrene, knowing that he was not going to survive the journey but hoping that his self-sacrifice might help the others survive. The photographs were originally published by the Fine Art Society in 1914 in larger format

• Binding: Hardcover

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