Rare Antarctic Books Top Nobu Shirase Expedition Auction

With noteworthy publications and antique materials related to exploration, travel, and the polar regions, Potter & Potter Auctions’ 430 lot Lieutenant Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1912: The Important Collection of Chet Ross Sale made a total of $630,000.

Among the most popular lots was Ernest H. Shackleton's The Heart of the Antarctic, Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909 and The Antarctic Book. Winter Quarters 1907-1909 which was estimated at $20,000-30,000 and sold for $28,800. These three volumes were printed in London by William Heinemann in 1909. This first edition, limited issue - number 104 of 300 copies - was signed by 16 members of the shore party including Shackleton.  

Other highlights included

* Yoshitake Shima's Nankyoku Tanken to Kotaijingu no Hosai or South Pole Expedition and the Enshrinement of Kotaijingu, estimated at $10,000-15,000 and made $36,000. It was printed in Tokyo by Shiso Zendo Tosho Kankokai in 1930. This first edition is considered by many to be the rarest first-person narrative related to this Expedition. Shima, who was also a Shinto priest, served as purser aboard the Kainan Maru and clerk on the Japanese Antarctic Expedition during both seasons.  

* Zenya Taniguchi and Yoshimasa Kimura's Hokuyo Nankyoku no Kaitaku-sha: Shirase Chui or Pioneer of Northern Antarctica: Lieutenant Shirase (estimate: $12,000-15,000, sold for $33,600). This fully researched biography was published in Toyko by Daichi-sha in 1940. It was a first edition, limited issue, presentation copy and one of only 15 copies produced, and the only one known extant today. Signed by both authors, this publication was considered by Potter's experts to be one of the rarest and most significant items in this collection.

* Samuel Clemens' ('Mark Twain') The Innocents at Home ($37,500). This copyright edition was signed twice by Twain. It was printed in London by Bradbury, Evans and Co. for George Routledge and Sons, c. 1893. This example was possibly a unique copy as it had an interesting contemporary binding that was possibly intended for a special customer.