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Antarctica, 1772-1922: Freestanding Publications through 1999.

Rosove, Michael H. "Antarctica, 1772-1922: Freestanding Publications through 1999." Published in 2001 in an edition of 500 numbered, signed copies, all similarly printed and bound.

28.8 cm, quarter buffalo, linen-backed boards, gilt, high-quality, acid-free papers, Smyth-sewn, headbands, without dust-wrapper as issued. pp. xxx, 537, (1); 10 plate leaves (5 colored), slip laid in “To the Reader”. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies, all similarly bound and signed by the author on the limitation leaf. ISBN 0-9705386-0-X.

This bibliography is the latest word on Antarctica’s classical and heroic periods, the result of ten years’ research including the examination of private collections, booksellers’ holdings, and the repositories of twelve of the world’s most important libraries and archives (Scott Polar Research Institute, Royal Geographical Society, Royal Society, British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale, Mawson Collection, Baker Library at Dartmouth, Hill Collection, Scripps Oceanographical Institute, UCLA, Huntington Library, and Library of Congress), aided by bibliographies, twenty years’ booksellers’ catalogues, and computerized data bases.

The bibliography contains many rare and virtually unknown publications and clarifies innumerable obscure points of interest. Included are all publications in the original language of the author and English-language translations. (Non-English translations are given in brief.) Given are all contemporary publications (prospectuses, narratives, science) and selected post-contemporary publications (memorials, diaries, autobiographies, biographies, analyses, bibliographies, references, humanities) in all identified editions, printings, and variants, with binding and collation details, bibliographical references, ISBN, rarity, original price, and referenced commentary. Less important post-contemporary publications are listed in brief. Author/editor, title, and subject indexes are provided.

About the author:

Michael Rosove has had an interest in Antarctica for over twenty-five years and has made several trips to high south latitudes. He is the author of Let Heroes Speak: Antarctic Explorers, 1772-1922 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000), a critically lauded history recently released in paperback (New York: Penguin Putnam, Berkley Publishing, 2002). Dr. Rosove is Clinical Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.

Comments and Reviews:

“Your magnificent bibliography . . . is clearly a work of unparalleled industry and scholarship. Your annotations include so much hard-to-discover biographical and other details that I am sure that I shall be making repeated reference to it over many years to come.”
- Williams Mills (1952-2004), former Keeper and Librarian, Scott Polar Research Institute.

“ABSOLUTELY STUPENDOUS, far bigger, better and more impressive than one could ever imagine. This is THE book for any Antarctican, book collector or not.”
- Robert Stephenson, for the Antarctic Circle (antarctic–circle.org).

“Rosove’s [bibliography] is a feast for the bibliophile.”
- Ann Savours, for The James Caird Society Journal.

“Spence, Renard, Conrad and other earlier bibliographies had set a pretty high standard in bibliographic completeness, but one which now Michael Rosove has impressively surpassed.”
- Charles Lagerbom, author of The Fifth Man: The Life of H.R. Bowers, for The Antarctican Newsletter.

“Michael Rosove’s volume is one of those very rare efforts . . . [that] emerges as a rare work of genius. Even the most serious Antarctican will find something new and enlightening on virtually every page.”
- T.H. Baughman, for The Polar Record.

“Michael H. Rosove’s Antarctica 1772-1922 simply demands superlatives. The results are frankly amazing, both in the minutiae and the project’s scope.”
- Jeff Rubin, for The Polar Times.

“This book is the undeniable standard and a genuine pleasure to read. The value of the commentary is very much greater than one finds in most bibliographies.”
- Translated from the Verband Deutscher Antiquare.