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Another option to consider: Worsley's Epitome could have been Worsley's Epitome. In the 21st century, if you were planning an adventure and wanted an encyclopedic reference that would fit in the memory of your smartphone, you might merge sections and extracts from various documents and resources into a single pdf, maybe with a purpose-built index. A century ago, an explorer might well have collected together various pages from key documents including required mathematical tables, unique tables that suited the explorer's tastes, and extensive geographic references culled from many works. You take those down to your neighborhood book binder, and you say, "Make me an epitome from all of these pages and resources." Your book binder cuts the pages down nicely and assembles them in a durable binding guaranteed to last for the duration of an antarctic exploration (though not guaranteed to live through a small boat journey in the Southern Ocean). Note: I have no evidence that this is the case; I'm suggesting it primarily to open up the meaning of the word epitome. It doesn't have to be a word from the title of a specific book. 

Frank Reed