In the original dustsheet. Blue binding with gilt title on the spine.

F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

Now a rare book

Review: Ann Savours is a distinguished scholar of polar exploration and for some years worked at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge. This volume was published some 40 years ago (in 1974), and to be fair to Savours, does not pretend to be a substantial commentary on Robert Falcon Scott. It rather consists of a large number of photographs taken by the brilliant ‘camera artist’ Herbert Ponting (who was photographer on Scott’s last expedition), together with a narrative which loosely threads their context together. Hence her title as ‘editor’ rather than author. Ponting did not participate in the substance of Scott’s epic journey to the South Pole but instead left Antarctica early, largely to publish his photos and film, to drum up more funds. The photographs (and consequently Savour’s book) therefore focus on the preparation for the journey, as well as the wildlife and Scott’s ponies and dogs, which Ponting was able to study and photograph at some length. That end part of the book consists solely of prose lifted directly from Scott’s diaries.

One fascinating addition to the book is its introduction by Scott’s only son, Sir Peter Scott, which gives some personal reflections on his father and his visits to his father’s base hut in Antarctica, as well as comments on Ponting. Peter Scott was of course a prolific artist in his own right. In 1974 / 75, this book was a useful introduction to Ponting’s work, though subsequent wide dissemination of the photographs has perhaps rendered it less useful today. Those who might wish to see Ponting’s photographs in all their glory might seek out ‘The Heart of the Great Alone’ (Royal Collection Publications 2011). Or to see his original (and magnificent) film – ‘The Great White Silence’ (BFI DVD 2011). Or to read his account ‘The Great White South’ (1921. Cooper Press 2001).