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[THE HOME OF THE BLIZZARD: FIRST RUSSIAN EDITION] V strane purgi : Istoriia Avstraliiskoi antarkticheskoi ekspeditsii 1911-1914 gg. [i.e. In Land of the Blizzard : The Story of the Australian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914]

Mouson, D.

Item #1008

Leningrad: Izd-vo Glavsevmorputi, 1935. VIII, 439 pp.: ill., 1 portrait, 3 folding maps. 22,5x16 cm. In original blue cloth with two mounted illustrations, blind lettering on the front cover and silver lettering on the spine. No dust jacket. Very good, ink inscription on flyleaf, few stains on p. 178-182.

First Russian edition. One of 10 000 copies. Very rare.

Cover design was produced by collaborating artists and architects Boris Piatunin and Boris Smirnov. The latter is primarily known for his innovative approach to art glassmaking that became the base for Leningrad art glass school.

Translation of famous Douglas Mawson’s book ‘The Home of the Blizzard’ into Russian was undertaken by E. Karavaeva, due to the Soviet interests in the Arctic zone. The Soviet endeavors to study the North Pole brought forth dreams of Antarctic lands as well. Although that were Russian explorers Bellingshausen and Lazarev who discovered Antarctica in 1820, Russian and Soviet scholars little participated in its research until 1955. The edition includes preface of Antarctic exploration, black-and-white (mostly full-page) photographs, a portrait of Mawson on the frontispiece and three folding maps. The second (1967) and the third (1970) editions hadn’t included the folding maps and illustrations on the separate leaves at all.

Worldcat doesn’t locate any copies in USA.

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