Frank Hurley"s photograph of the Endurance trapped in the ice at night has deservedly become one of the iconic images of the 20th century. The picture has a sense of drama and even looking at it today one can sense the desolation and awesome power of the Antarctic pack ice. Yet Hurley was no one-shot wonder, and for the first time his more than 400 surviving photos are gathered together under the covers of this beautifully presented coffee-table-sized book. The story of the Endurance expedition from 1914-1917 is well known: how the Endurance was crushed, how Shackleton led his men towards the edge of the pack and sailed to Elephant Island, how Shackleton made an 800-mile open boat journey to South Georgia and coordinated the rescue of all his men. All of which--bar the open boat journey--was captured on film. Hurley was one of the first photo-journalists, and it is tempting to say that with material like this he could hardly fail to capture some stunning images. But while the photos are a historic record of another time and another world, many transcend the everyday to border on art. The composition is flawless and how so many survived the boat journeys is a wonder in itself. The book itself contains several essays which offer something for everyone: from a bog-standard account of the expedition to a more technical analysis of Hurley"s technique and the problems associated with early film stock.Large Format. 24.5 x 23 cm, 244pp, price clipped