Sole edition. Original pink paper wrappers with letterpress title to the upper cover, hole punched and tied with thin green cord. One etched plate by George Marston, with tissue guard. A very good copy with some edge wear to the wrappers and sometime folded twice, likely in situ. The pink wrappers remain bright and overall a very nice example of a remarkable survival.

The expedition cook's own copy of the extremely rare printed menu of the Nimrod expedition's Midwinter feast of 1908.
The Midwinter feast was a much anticipated event during the freezing winters of the Antarctic, and Shackleton records "after a teetotal regime the Midwinter Day, the Great Polar Festival and Birthday festivals were a release, and an occasion for a 'wild spree'." This tongue-in-cheek menu proposes a starter of Turtle Soup, followed by Penguin patties and Seal cutlets, before the pièce de résistance of Roast Reindeer. Champagne and whisky are recommended for hydration before the evening ends with "Sledges at 12-30".
As well as showcasing the light-hearted entertainment that helped the expedition through the long winter, this menu is notable for being the first work completed by the press which produced the Antarctic's first substantial book.
In advance of the Nimrod expedition of 1907-09 the London printers Joseph Causton & Sons provided printing equipment for the use and amusement of the men during the long dark winter. As Shackleton records in The Heart of the Antarctic "Joyce and Wild had been given instruction in the art of type-setting and printing, Marston being taught in etching and lithography". The chief occupation of the printers was in producing the 120 page Aurora Australis, considered "the primary incunabulum of the Antarctic" (Books On Ice), between April and July 1908. Though a far slighter production, this printed menu produced for the Midwinter feast of June 23rd 1908, therefore precedes the completion of Aurora Australis.
This menu and the Aurora Australis are the only known printed works from the press at Cape Royds and while sixty-five copies of the latter are accounted for, this menu is much rarer. We can trace just four other copies, two appearing at auction in 1992 and 2001, and one each at the Canterbury Museum and the Mitchell Library, New South Wales.

PROVENANCE: From the collection of William C. Roberts, the cook to the Nimrod expedition.

Stock ID: 39225