Ascent of Everest - First Edition - Signed - Edmund Hillary - Bauman Rare Books

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Ascent of Everest

Edmund HILLARY | John HUNT

Item#: 116774 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Ascent of Everest

Ascent of Everest

ASCENT OF EVEREST, SIGNED BY SIR JOHN HUNT AND WILFRID NOYCE

HUNT, John. The Ascent of Everest. (London): Hodder and Stoughton, (1953). Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition, boldly signed by author and expedition leader Sir John Hunt and expedition member Wilfrid Noyce on the title page, with eight color photographic plates, 48 half-tone plates and a number of in-text illustrations after pen-and-ink sketches.

The 1953 British Expedition to Mount Everest was the eighth in 30 years to attempt Everest. On May 29th, 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay at last stood at the summit; it was a culminating moment in mountaineering history, and one of the great achievements of human stamina and will. The Ascent of Everest was written by Sir John Hunt, the leader of the expedition, in one month to satisfy the great demand around the world for the story of the British team's success. Chapter 16 is Sir Edmund Hillary's stirring account of the final part of the climb, and the appendices are by members of the expedition. "Wilfrid Noyce was the leading literary figure among mountaineers following World War II… A great climber, as well as a poet and a scholar, he was chosen to make the leading ascent of the South Col on the 1953 British Everest expedition… Noyce was only 44 in 1962 when he was killed while descending from the summit of Garmo Peak in the Pamirs, cutting short a brilliant literary and climbing career" (Cox, 21). With dust jacket design by W. Heaton Cooper. Neate 393.

Book with toned spine, dust jacket bright and clean, near-fine.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
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