SIGNED BY SIR EDMUND HILLARY AND JOHN HUNT, WITH ADDED FULL-PAGE ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY "DICK TRACY" CARTOONIST RICHARD LOCHER
(HILLARY, Edmund) HUNT, John. The Conquest of Everest. With a Chapter on the Final Assault by Sir Edmund Hillary. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1954. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. $4200.
First American edition of the official account of the first summit of Mount Everest, signed on the front free endpaper by Edmund Hillary and author Sir John Hunt, leader of the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest; on the same page is a charming full-page color drawing of a smiling mountaineer in climbing gear near a summit, done by cartoonist Dick Locher.
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. This account was written in one month by Sir John Hunt, the leader of the expedition, in order to satisfy the immediate 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. "A definitive account worth reading" (Krawczyk 465). Illustrated with eight color photographic plates, 48 half-tone plates and a number of in-text illustrations after pen-and-ink sketches. Neate 393. In addition to the two mountaineers' signatures, the front free endpaper bears a remarkable piece of art: a full-page cartoon of a smiling mountaineer in climbing gear near a summit, done in graphite, ink and felt tip by Dick Locher, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist known for his work as both author and artist on the Dick Tracy comic strip. The piece is signed "Richard Locher / April 13th Tues. / 1954" and was most likely done during Hunt and Hillary's U.S. lecture tour of that year.
Book near-fine in a very good chipped, price-clipped dust jacket with old tape repairs. A desirable signed copy with Locher's appealing art.