# Is "South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition" by Sir Ernest Shackleton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition by Sir Ernest Shackleton (William Heinemann, 1919) is identified by: William Heinemann, London, 1919, 8vo (about 255 x 161 mm), "South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917." The first impression is identified by collation plus an errata slip: 2 pp., xxii, 376 pp., with an errata slip tipped in at p. UK true first: Heinemann, London, 1919, and this is the edition to collect.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- William Heinemann, London, 1919, 8vo (about 255 x 161 mm), "South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917." The first impression is identified by collation plus an errata slip: 2 pp., xxii, 376 pp., with an errata slip tipped in at p
- The second and third impressions collate essentially the same but have no errata slip, the errors having been corrected in the text; auction houses routinely catalogue copies as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd impression, 1919," so the same title-page year covers all three
- Illustration complement is a colour frontispiece plus roughly 87-88 half-tone photographic plates (Hurley), including a double-page panorama, and a folding colour map of the Voyage of the Endurance at the rear; the folding map is frequently missing or torn
- Binding is publisher's dark blue cloth, the front board blocked in silver with a large vignette of the Endurance and the spine lettered in silver
- The first impression was printed on inferior paper at the end of the Great War and is invariably browned, the silver blocking oxidises, and the joints are prone to splitting with normal use, so a bright, unbrowned, unsplit copy should raise the suspicion of a later impression rather than confirm a first
- Publisher imprint reads William Heinemann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sir Ernest Shackleton |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Year | 1919 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | William Heinemann, London, 1919, 8vo (about 255 x 161 mm), "South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917." The first… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
William Heinemann, London, 1919, 8vo (about 255 x 161 mm), "South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition, 1914-1917." The first impression is identified by collation plus an errata slip: 2 pp., xxii, 376 pp., with an errata slip tipped in at p. 1. The second and third impressions collate essentially the same but have no errata slip, the errors having been corrected in the text; auction houses routinely catalogue copies as "the printed pricet edition, 2nd impression, 1919," so the same title-page year covers all three. Illustration complement is a colour frontispiece plus roughly 87-88 half-tone photographic plates (Hurley), including a double-page panorama, and a folding colour map of the Voyage of the Endurance at the rear; the folding map is frequently missing or torn. Binding is publisher's dark blue cloth, the front board blocked in silver with a large vignette of the Endurance and the spine lettered in silver. The first impression was printed on inferior paper at the end of the Great War and is invariably browned, the silver blocking oxidises, and the joints are prone to splitting with normal use, so a bright, unbrowned, unsplit copy should raise the suspicion of a later impression rather than confirm a first.

## Is this the true first?
UK true first: Heinemann, London, 1919, and this is the edition to collect. The first American edition is Macmillan, New York, stating "Published January, 1920" on the copyright page; it follows the London issue by roughly a year and has no claim to precedence. No limited, signed or large-paper edition was issued: the book was produced under immediate post-war constraints and there is no elaborate limited state, so any "limited edition" South should be treated as a later production.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1919 Heinemann or the 1920 Macmillan issue in the sources consulted. The practical trap is not a club but the later 1919 Heinemann impressions: same year on the title page, same dark blue cloth, same silver Endurance vignette, told apart only by the absent errata slip and by paper that has not browned. Modern reprints (Century, Robinson, Signet, Konecky, Penguin, and Heinemann facsimile printings) are abundant and are not firsts.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *South: The Story of Shackleton's Last Expedition* by Sir Ernest Shackleton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/south-the-story-of-shackletons-last-expedition
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.