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[WHALING] Pod sozvezdiyem Yuzhnogo kresta: Plavaniye sovetskikh kitoboyev v Antarktike [i.e. Under the Constellation of the Southern Cross: The Voyage of Soviet Whalers in Antarctica]

Shister, E.

Item #2875

Moscow; Leningrad: Glavsevmorput' Publishing House, 1949. 62 pp., illustrations, map. 21x14 cm. Original illustrated wrappers. Front lower corner of the wrapper folded with a small loss, small tear at the foot of the title page; otherwise a very good copy. Complete with eleven photographs from the expedition, a map of the voyage, two drawings and portraits of Bellingshausen and Lazarev (all in text).

First edition, a memoir of a participant in the first voyage of the Soviet Antarctic whaling flotilla Slava (1946–1947).

Interesting edition, printed by naval technical publisher Glavsevmorput on the navigation of Soviet whalers right after the WWII. The publisher’s preface mentions, that the book was printed on 130th anniversary of Bellingshausen and Lazarev discoveries - in 1948-1949 the post-war regulation of Antarctic borders was in full-swing, with nine nations fighting over each other’s claims for territory - this book, together with similar publications marked the Soviet claims to the land.

In the book author describes the everyday life of whalers in Antarctica, making remarks and parallels to 1819 expedition. The international tension is also described: once captain Khodov brings to the crew the Norwegian newspaper ‘Vestfold Arbeierblad’, a special whaling issue, which is analyzed by him and the discrepancies in international representation of the region are pointed out.

Price: $500.00