Edward Wilson of the Antarctic by George Seaver

First Australian edition 1946, pub by John Murray

Good illustrated hardback, creasing & small closed tear on edge of spine. Some foxing on end papers. Name & short inscription on ffep. Pages good. No dustjacket.

Edward Wilson was born in Cheltenham on 23 July 1872, the son of a local physician. He was educated at Cheltenham College, and at Cambridge University, where he graduated in Natural Science and Medicine in 1894. He continued his medical studies in London and qualified as a doctor in 1901. In 1909, he accepted Captain Scott’s invitation to act as Chief of Scientific Staff on a second Antarctic Expedition, which set sail in the Terra Nova in June 1910. A principal aim of the expedition was to reach the South Pole, which no one had ever done before. Wilson was one of five men chosen to make the journey. They set out from the Antarctic coast in November 1911, and arrived at the Pole on 17 January 1912, only to discover that the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, had reached it a month before.