ANTARCTICA

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. A tantalizing extract from a correspondence. He begins: 'I doubt whether domestic service, as a rule, is quite the state of slavery you depict, but, as I said before, the question which you ask me is less simple than you appear to think and I can only say that every employer is bound to remember that those he (or she) employs has wants, bodily and spiritual, very similar to his own.' He concludes the letter, and the correspondence, by apologising that he 'cannot continue to write on the subject'.

British geographer and Labour politician (1911-94), son of the antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. One page, quarto. Very good. Folded three times. Docketed in red ink. He must decline the invitation to become a Fellow of the Society. 'It is certainly an honour and I would have liked to accept this invitation, but I have lately had to cut down on the membership of various societies since, as you can imagine, the subscriptions do mount up. This is frankly the reason, for I have become very well aware of the importance of the work of the Royal Society of Arts.'

Wraps, illustrated, 5 June 1961, inscribed by the scholar C.E. Wright who has noted prices and purchasers beside 9 items which interested him. He also notes that Cherry-Garrard originally paid £5000 for a missal. A flick through the pages throws up Back, Bligh, Dalrymple, Scoresby for polar exploration.