Description
The first edition, first printing of Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, in the publisher’s first state dust jacket.
Octavo, [viii], 282pp, [2]. Blue and teal cloth on covers, title stamped in silver on spine. Stated “First Edition” on copyright page, with “36352” publisher’s code on rear panel. Illustrated endpapers, internally clean. Faint dust remnant along top of text block, this copy appears unread. Complete with 20 illustrations throughout text.
In the publisher’s first state dust jacket, $5.00 on front flap, two short closed tears at hinges of the spine, light sunning to spine, a near fine example. (Rosove 195, A1)
An exceptionally scarce work, with no verified copies of the first printing appearing at auction in the last 25 years.
The first edition of Endurance by Alfred Lansing was published by McGraw-Hill Book Company of New York in 1959. It is often confused with the Book Club edition, released the same year.
The first edition from McGraw-Hill states “First Edition” on the copyright, has a retail price of $5.00 on the front flap, with “Book-of-The-Month Club Selection” printed below the retail price. The rear panel of the dust jacket has a photograph of Alfred Lansing, with a short biography. The second state dust jacket has a retail price of $6.95, with nine advertising blurbs on the rear panel. The “Book of the Month Club” has “First Edition” stated on the copyright page but has a dimple on the back panel in place of the “36352” publisher’s code.
