Shackleton, Ernest, and Frank Wild. ‘Shack’s Famous Christy Minstrels’, an illustrated menu signed by Ernest Shackleton and Frank Wild, and designed by the artist Will Owen for a celebratory dinner hosted at the Criterion Restaurant, London, c. 1909, 168 x 208mm, framed and glazed. RARE Note: The title is a satirical reference to the central role of Gerald Christy, whose company The Lecture Agency Ltd dominated the field of British public speaking appearances from 1890–1930. It draws humour from an earlier American namesake, Christy’s Minstrels, a blackface group formed by Edward Pearce Christy. Here the artist Will Owen (1869–1957) has included several caricatures: Gerald Christy sits centre, above the word ‘Menu’, his wife Catherine to the left, and the author and artist Ernest Thompson Seton to the immediate right. In the foreground, Ernest Shackleton holds a song sheet titled ‘I do like to be beside the icebergs’, while standing, Frank Wild looks on. Although undated, this menu is likely to be after the Nimrod Expedition, probably c. 1909–10. Condition: Darkening along edges, a few very small light foxing spots. Light marks to frame. Category: Books, Maps & Manuscripts/Autographs & Manuscripts Estimate: 1000-2000 GBP