Through the Heart of Tibet | 1910, first edition, 'first copy issued', inscribed by the author to the explorer Ernest Shackleton. From Shackleton's personal collection.

DEDICATEE'S COPY WITH LENGTHY PRESENTATION INSCRIPTION FROM THE AUTHOR TO THE EXPLORER ERNEST SHACKLETON.

The inscription reads:

'Dear Shackleton,/Take this book from a humble/traveller who deeply appreciates Shackleton the man, as/well as Shackleton the Explorer. This is the first Copy issued and I wished you to have it. May all/good be with you./Alexander Macdonald/Woodside/Cardross/Sept. 26/1909/"For I know"/"How far high failure overleaps the bound"/"Of low success....".'

First edition, first copy issued of Alexander Hamilton's travelogue Through the Heart of Tibet, here warmly inscribed to Ernest Shackleton and from Shackleton's personal library (Book 32 - The Shackleton collection). An incredibly rare work, with  one of a kind inscription. An important addition to any collection.

This example was sold at the Polar sale of Shackleton's library at Christies on the 25th September, 2001.

Description and Condition:

First edition, octavo (18.8 x 13.7cm.). Half-title, 16pp. publisher's catalogue at back. 8 two-colour plates after William Rainey. (Occasional light spotting.) Original blue pictorial cloth. Minor wear the extremities and small marking to the top of the spine. Inscribed by the author. Minor foxing to a small number of pages but still remarkably fresh inside. A near-fine example of a one of a kind book.

Published by Blackie & Son Limited, London, Glasgow, Dublin and Bombay, 1910.

Provenance:
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) (author's presentation inscription, dated 'Sept. 26/1909'), and thence by descent.