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🚨 Help get UNSEEN TERRA NOVA PICS released by purchasing some of these books linked by OP!!!!🚨

THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS YOU GUYS. here at polarpics dot blog we are desperate for the long-awaited Terra Nova Illustrated volume. the wonders it promises are beyond imagination.

but it seems like it needs our help to make it happen!!! GO FORTH POLARHEADS!

Wilson Books

TL;DR: Good books are good! Links!

Cheltenham in Antarctica – Biography of Edward A. Wilson, amply illustrated, correct in its quotations where Seaver took some editorial liberties. The paperback is only available used; a very very nice deluxe leatherbound edition in a slipcase can be ordered direct from the publisher.

Discovery Illustrated – A coffee-table sized treasure trove of the rarer or otherwise unavailable images depicting the whole of the Discovery Expedition (1901-04). The actual book is nicer than the image there, which is a promo leaflet and not the cover. Also available used.

Nimrod Illustrated – Same but for the Nimrod Expedition (1907-09)

Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks – Same sort of big juicy edition, but of Wilson's sketches, paintings, and observations of natural subjects in more temperate climes.

Edward Wilson's Antarctic Notebooks are also a thing (a glorious thing) but they're not presently available on the publisher's site or on World of Books.

Terra Nova Illustrated – Keep reading ...

Nonfiction bookselling is an unforgiving place. If you want to publish your research, you either have to convince a publisher that there's a market for it and tailor your output to the lowest common denominator, or publish academically where maybe a few dozen people will see it at best. The middle ground is going with a tiny independent press – even a vanity press – and hoping your book finds the people who are into the subject enough to appreciate something detailed and esoteric, with no marketing budget. This is where the real nerd gold is, but it's hard to source, often our of print, and with no economies of scale, expensive.

David M. Wilson, great-nephew of Our Bill, has been putting together books on Antarctic history – most, but not all, having to do with his predecessor – and these are full of stuff you will not find anywhere else. In order not to compromise on content or depth, he's published through a one-person outfit in the West Country which, aside from the digital printing, operates in roughly 1998. Sales are slow; neither of them are on social media and the books are too esoteric for most bookshops to stock.

David is currently working on the latest in his Illustrated series, and it's the big one – Terra Nova. Because of his unique connections with institutions and expedition families worldwide, it's going to be an assemblage of images that you likely haven't seen before – the whole point of it is to fill the gaps in the visual record, and oh boy there's some good stuff in there. (I have been occasionally consulting on Guy IDs and I can vouch for this.) But his publisher is hemming and hawing about his previous Illustrated books not selling well. Obviously Terra Nova Illustrated is going to be the most successful of the bunch (at least until he comes out with Endurance) but in order to give his publisher a little more confidence it would be great to shift some of the backlist.

As I am on social media, I offered to signal boost a link to the online shop, but whoa the website is terrible and that may explain why they're not selling anything. I have now taken the trouble to take you to the shop pages for each individual book, and also link you to new and used copies on World Of Books, which is kind enough to kick a little back to the author even on used copies. They also have a slightly more modern website.

Shipping in A.D. 2025 is not making anything easier, but polar fandom is a cooperative bunch, and it may be possible for multiple people in one country to group their orders and divide the combined shipping. This ought to work out cheaper for everyone than each person individually paying full price to ship from the UK.

Let's make Terra Nova Illustrated look like more of a commercial prospect!

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SILAS BIRTHDAY EVERYONE KISS HIM ITS DA RULES ‼️

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Discovery officers in NZ, 1901 (Scott, Koettlitz, Barne, Ferrar, Hodgson)

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Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed journey to the South Pole captivated the world. But hidden within the legend was a story that has never been told—a love affair between two of the crew who survived.

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Message in a Bottle: a mini prompt post for The Terror and Polar Exploration RPF! Offer one word + one ship (or one character) prompts and write drabble fills in return. Low-key and open to everyone. Come join in over here!

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Antarctic Love-Birds (Penelopatchicus antarctica) caricature by Denis G. Lillie, signed by Pennell and Atkinson, c. 1913 (Wilson Museum collection, Cheltenham)

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How to avoid reblogging the Nazi Antarctic Expedition

There are posts on this site which use images and video from the Third German Antarctic Expedition (1938-1939), the most popular of these having over 22k notes.

Example:

The expedition was on the order of Hermann Göring and aimed to claim part of Antarctica for Nazi Germany, so that its fishing and whaling resources could be used by the Reich. Its logo featured a swastika and it was supported by the Nazi regime.

Additionally, members of this expedition were also members of the German armed forces during WW2. It is important to remember that Nazi Germany's war crimes were not only committed by the SS, but all members of the armed forces committed them and/or were complicit, whether they joined voluntarily or were conscripted.

Therefore, you hopefully do not want to reblog content about it without realising what it is. But how can you tell?

This is mostly concentrated on the posts of one user, but here are some things to look out for:

- anything tagged with "schwabenland" or "Third German Antarctic Expedition".

- anything mentioning that the expedition pictured took place between 1938-1939

- if there is no information, and you can't identify the expedition pictured, consider a reverse image search and/or not reblogging

- don't engage with these posts/blogs in future and if u see a beloved mutual reblogging one of these posts without realising, consider sending a DM to let them know.

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happy birthday to the boss, ernest shackleton!

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Priestley looking studious (1909, Sydney + 1913, Tewkesbury w/ Silas & Griff)

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silas's stepmom who he strongly disliked barging her way into the little photoshoot he was doing with deb for the toronto papers.......... and deb is in the corner like [laughs nervously]

get outta there girl 😭😭😭

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Harry Pennell in newspapers (1908-1916)

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E. L. Atkinson c. 1910 and c. 1920 (with glass eye)

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very demure, very mindful

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Wilson, Royds, Ferrar, Scamp the dog, & Scott on board the Discovery

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Polar explorers in school sports (Debenham, Macklin, Cherry-Garrard, Simpson)

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“The Quiet Land” by Frank Debenham, 1956