This is an extraordinary volume of extraordinary photographs. Frank Hurley was a pioneer in the commercial and artistic use of early Ð and cumbersome Ð cameras. He was also the masterful photojournalist who served as the expedition photographer on Sir Ernest Shackleton's failed attempt to cross the Antarctic continent by way of the South Pole.

South With Endurance: The Photographs of Frank Hurley Simon & Schuster, 317pp, 698 photographs, $50.

Most readers with an interest in marine subjects are not only familiar with but also relish and admire the saga of Shackleton's heroic misadventure in Antarctica. There are many extant volumes on the subject, from Shackleton's own modest account ("South,") first published in 1920, reprinted in 1998 by The Lyons Press, to Caroline Alexander's well-financed 1998 curatorial accompaniment to the American Museum of Natural History's 1999 exhibit, "Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Expedition."

No less than 15 titles Ð first-hand accounts, biographies and social histories Ð relating to the subject are cited as sources just for the Alexander book. Every one of those includes a teasing selection of the photographs taken by Hurley, and with good reason. The events and deeds of the adventure are so extreme that they would have strained credibility without Hurley's pictorial documentation. "South With Endurance," however, is the first publication to finally do justice to this awesome body of early photojournalism.

It is to Shackleton's credit as a leader that he granted Hurley complete freedom, and to Hurley's that he took full advantage, driven as he was by curiosity and courage to hang from rigging or wander around ice floes in the dark in search of the best shot. Shackleton was also shrewd in his insistence that as many of the heavy plates and printed photos as were literally bearable should be priority cargo no matter how arduous the trek or tenuous the party's survival.

The existing photographs, all published together here for the first time, record every disaster and defeat, every rescue and triumph. Dramatic night shots of the ice-bound Endurance; the heart-wrenching rubble she is reduced to after she is crushed; revealing portraits of the men, football games and sled dog races played out in a frozen white vacuum; the joyous arrival on horrific Elephant Island; and the departure and return of Shackleton with a rescue ship from South Georgia Island are a spectacular tribute to the human spirit and Hurley's talent. The narrative and artistic strength of the images packs an emotional wallop of both pathos and awe.

Gathered from three major archives in England and New South Wales, "South With Endurance" includes a gallery of the entire surviving collection of 698 prints and glass plates, including 40 from Paget Colour plates. Almost 500 of these images were selected to be printed close to page size (111Ú2x12") with a standard of precision and clarity that reveal Hurley to be the disciplined, tenacious and exacting artist he was.

Accompanying the photographs are well-crafted essays on Hurley's technique, tools and esthetic, and a poignant biography of the little-known Australian photographer. A succinct re-telling of the expedition story neatly sorts out the images, especially their chronology. This wonderful volume will satisfy the adventurer, the artist, the technician, the historian and the mariner in each of us. But, it is not a book to take on your summer cruise Ð you have to peruse it with a pillow in your lap to keep your legs from bruising.

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