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BARBER, NOEL White Desert, the True Story of the Commonwealth Trans - Antarctic Expedition - Fuchs & Hillary 's Journey from Shackleton Base to the South Pole , with Photographs
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1958. First Edition. Hard Cover in Dust Jacket. Photos. 5-1/2 x 8 " 1958 Hardcover in DJ 1st ... Very Good condition ... Jacket protected in New , non-stick clear Mylar sleeve ... dj slight shelf chip , not as noticeable in new sleeve ... Nice Clean Gift Giving quality ... 205 pages ... illustrated with 24 pages of B&W photographs ... Author Noel Barber had a unique view of those adventures of Sir Vivian Fuchs & his companions which 'appealed to all our imaginations and stirred all our hearts" ... When the world's l ast frontier ... the South Pole ... was crossed for the first time in history ... he was there for each act of the drama .... Flown in on an American plane ... Barber was the first Briton to reach the South Pole since Scott's party of five in 1912 .... From the Pole itself, he "watched" Fuchs & Hillary converging on it from the opposite ends of the continent, across the white desert to this strange little white oasis ... He was there when Hillary arrived ... climbing stiffly, with his slig htly shy grin ... from the ridiculously small Ferguson, close to the ring of barrels that marked the Pole ... he was there again for the arrival of Fuchs on January 20,1958 ... the Sno-cats, with their flags flying, coming to rest with a final splutter of engines ... He saw the meeting of Hillary & Fuchs ... talked to the leader whose 900 mile journey from Shackelton Base had just added a new chapter to the great story of Polar Exploration ... He was at the cluster of little yellow huts that was Scott Base when Fuchs completed his 2,220 mile crossing of Antarctica ... the most arduous journey the world has ever known .... He heard Hillary say to Fuchs, "There were times when I didn't think you'd make it, Bunny but I'm glad to have b een proved wrong." ... And he heard Fuchs, who for nearly 25 years had dreamed of it & worked for it, replying, " We did what we set out to do. We never despaired ....." .... In between the tremendous moments of the main adventure, Barber was ac cumulating a store of unforgettable personal experiences .... " Polar exploration ," wrote Mr. Cherry-Garrard, "is at once the cleanest & most isolated way of having a bad time that has yet been devised." .... Barber shared the life of those stat ioned at the Antarctic bases, & though for him, on his second visit, Christmas at the Pole was "a festive affair among old friends", there were other events & occasions less cozy ... monotony, hardship, exhaustion, danger .... He learnt how & why Antarctica is lonely, dead, cruel, inhospitable & irresistable ..... "The man who goes to Antarctica ", writes Barber, "goes because he cannot help it, because the forces which drag him away from hearth and home, into squalor and cold, are too stro ng for him to deny ... I went there to record the adventures of two great men, with no knowledge of what lay in store for me ... I left 3 months later with an idefinable feeling of excitement ... to which is added a secret hope that I hardly dare to admit, even to myself, that one day I may be able to return." .... " The White Desert " ... by Noel Barber ... published by Hodder & Stoughton , London ... 1958 ... First Edition Hardcover in original dustjacket ... Nice Clean condition ***. Very Good/Very Good .
Offered for US$ 45.00 by: Cavendish International Books & Music - Book number: 693
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