The first book printed in Antarctica
During Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition of 1908-1909 the crew produced and printed the first book in Antarctica, the Aurora Australis, under extreme conditions while overwintering at Cape Royds on Ross Island in the McMurdo Sound.
Shackleton edited the book and George Marston provided the lithographs and etchings to illustrate it. Ernest Joyce and Frank Wild printed it and it was bound in old packing cases by Bernard Day. Crew members contributed stories, poems and humorous pieces about their Antarctic experiences.
A small printing press was transported with them from England and candles were used to heat the printing plates so that the ink wouldn’t freeze in the extreme sub-zero temperatures.
Shackleton used the activity as a way to keep the crew occupied and avoid what was known as ‘polar ennui’, depression brought on by days of long darkness, which in Antarctica extended to months (today we call it ‘seasonal affective disorder’)
It is believed that 100 copies were made but because they were not numbered no-one is quite sure. They were distributed to the crew, their friends and some of the supporters of the expedition. Only 70 copies are known to exist today.
Amongst explorers and rare book collectors Aurora Australis is a renowned and celebrated rarity, which is why copies have sold at auction for over $100,000.