Professor Hester Blum

Aurora Australis was the first book printed in Antarctica; it was written and published by members of Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition of 1907–09. They printed about 100 copies (this edition is a facsimile) and bound the volumes with the materials that were at hand in their Antarctic hut: orange crates, horse halters, boxes of stewed kidneys. I'm deeply interested in how people write about climate extremity while in a position of climate extremity, and this volume is extraordinary.