ANTARCTIC BOOKS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 12

ANTARCTIC BOOKS

ICE BARRIER LIBRARY WIDE RANGE OF READING MATTER

An important feature of the equipment of Commander Byrd’s Antarctic Expedition Is a library numbering several thousands of volumes. It is a collection of books designed for the diversion and edification of men who must seek distraction not only from the monotony of an unyielding Nature, but from the danger of an irksome intimacy with one another in the narrow confines of their winter quarters ou the Ice Barrier. As the “Saturday Review,” of New York, remarked, that favourite conceit of the literary-minded, the selection of a desert island library, seems to -have materialised in that of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition. , Of the thousands of volumes in this library, the greater number are works of fiction, but “all of Shakespeare Is included, and Greek and Latin classics rub shoulders with ancient and modern works on philisophy, history, and science. Whittier's ‘Snowbound,’ . and that tried favourite, ‘Casey at the Bat,’ appear alongside ‘Selected Essays of Francis Bacon,’ and Franklin’s Autobiography. In other words, there is a little of everything under the sun for brightening the days when there is no sun .to be under.’’ ' When Professor L. M. Gould joined the Byrd Expedition he wrote to his friends asking them to suggest the five books they would prefer 1j have with them on such an adventure, and the list so compiled was a marvellously varied one. Many of the books so selected were sent to the expedition, and the list was the basis for the purchase. of many others. . One friend and supporter of the expedition, Mr. David Lyman, Jnr., presented £250 worth of books, including Copies of the first editions of the works of all the famous Arctic and Antarctic explorers of recent years, such as Scott, Shackleton, Mawson, and Amundsen. There is also a wide range of scientific works, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, •Webster’s English Dictionary, and many standard works of fiction. Most of the well-known Everyman's- library and 1250 volumes of the Little Blue Library are to be found in the expedition's collection. Stevenson,’ Kipling, Conrad, Fenlinore Cooper,. Scott, and other writers are well represented, and another feature of the library is a wide range of the best detective stories known to literature. Scarce First Editions. . An interesting sidelight on the subject of Antarctic literature is afforded by the experience of Mr. K, G. Brophy, second-in-command of the Byrd Expedition; who is.about to make two voyages, to the Ice Barrier in the Eleanor Bolling. . His preoccupation with the business side of the expedition having prevented him from giving close study to the writings of Scott, Shackleton, Mawson and other Antarctic explorers, Mr. Brophy has been trying to purchase copies of the original editions of their books to take with him, those in the expedition's library having gone south in the City of New York. While there is still available the large two-volume edition of “Scott’s Last Expedition,” the original editions of Shackleton’s “Heart of the Antarctic" and. “South” and Amundsen’s “South Pole" appear to have gone out of print—at all events, none is available in Wellington. The cheap abridged editions of Scott’s “Voyage of the Discovery.” and Shackleton’s books are to be found on most booksellers’ shelves, and inquiries go to show that such books have a Steady sale. Mr. Brophy will welcome news of copies of the complete editions of the Antarctic explorers’ works.