Introduction to Pete's Polar Place
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Pete's Polar Place is a web site
dedicated to the literature and philately of polar regions and to a
lesser extent to non-polar philately. Pete's Polar Place is run by Pete
Cranwell, a bookseller, philatelist and collector of material dealing
with polar history and philately. My major philatelic interests are in
the stamps and covers of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) and
the Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises (TAAF). My literary
interests include books and ephemera about the polar regions especially
books concerning polar exploration and in particular the expeditions of
Sir Ernest Shackleton, Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Hubert Wilkins plus
the photographs of Frank Hurley and Sir Hubert Wilkins.
Postcards are one of the most
fascinating types of pictorial record of Antarctic Expeditions. In late
2007 Margery Wharton published a revised and updated edition of her
book entitled Postcards of Antarctic Expeditions - A Catalogue: 1898-1958. A detailed description of this comprehensive photographic record of Antarctic Exploration can be found in the Books section. Sadly, Margery Wharton died on September 17th 2008. A tribute
to her life and accomplishments can be found following the description
of her book in the Books section.
Following is a brief description
of the areas covered by this website. Please click on the heading, or
the appropriate menu item along the top of the page, to go to those
sections.
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POLAR PHILATELIC ITEMS FOR SALE
(not related to the Mawson's Huts Foundation)
1. AAT & Kingston covers
2. Adelaide Stampex 2010 and Shackleton covers and postcards
BOOKS FOR SALE
Click on any book title or picture for more detailed information on it.
At the present I am able to offer for sale two books with a polar theme. These are:
GALLERY
Illustrations and information about some of my favourite Postcards, Covers, Stamps and Memorabilia.
Contact information for some Polar Philatelic Societies and links to other
Antarctic websites which may
be of interest.
FRANK HURLEY
A page dedicated to the works of Frank Hurley (Mawson's and Shackleton's Photographer).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My thanks to Shane Murphy for permission to reproduce the two photographic compositions depicted here.
The one at the top of the page he entitled Ship-Map and it is an amalgamation of two of Frank Hurley's photographs of the Endurance as it was crushed by the ice in the Weddell Sea. These pictures can be found on pages 115 and 119 of Shackleton's Photographer.
The map of part of South Georgia was drawn by Frank Worsley, who
accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton and four others in the voyage of the James Caird from Elephant Island to King Haakon Bay, South Georgia. The map can be found on page 184 of Shackleton's Photographer.
The composition preceding the
Books for Sale section he entitled Two-Ships and it is an amalgamation
of two of Frank Hurley's pictures of the Endurance and artwork depicting the James Caird. The top picture can be found on page 68 and the middle picture on page 100 of Shackleton's Photographer. The James Caird is a portion of artwork by Norman Wilkinson, which is held by Dulwich College, London and is depicted in full on page 173 of Shackleton's Photographer. |
