Potter & Potter Auctions to Feature Works on Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition

The latest Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition sale from Potter & Potter Auctions will offer over 400 lots from the collection of Chet Ross. Leading the catalog is Nobu Shirase’s Nankyoku Tanken (Antarctic Expedition). A rare personal account of Shirase’s expedition to the Japanese Antarctic, this first edition precedes the official narrative published in December of 1913. Among only four groups that explored Antarctica past 80 degrees south, Shirase’s “dash patrol” journey was the first non-European expedition at that time to accomplish this feat. There was no prior polar experience among those involved in the expedition, and the budget was small for such an undertaking. The available Octavo book includes 19 photographs on eight pages, 77 photographic illustrations, 80 maps, and a folding color map. A portrait photograph appears on the frontispiece of the Antarctic Expedition Support Committee, including Lieutenant Shirase. 

Also on offer from the Collection of Chet Ross is a copy of The Japanese South Polar Expedition 1910-12. The offered first edition is an English translation of Nankyoku-ki, the Japanese Antarctic Expedition account, compiling official journals and records that first appeared in 1913. The book provides an insightful introduction to Shirase’s expedition, published by the Shirase Antarctic Expedition Supporter’s Association. Interested collectors can also consider Nanboku Kyokuchi Tanken-ki (The Expeditions to South and North Poles), a first-edition copy of the narrative on Arctic and Antarctic exploration by Kiichi Kamiya. View the complete catalog and register to bid by visiting Potter & Potter Auctions.