THE ASCENT OF EVEREST

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1953. First Edition, First Issue with Autograph Association Inscription and signature of Sir John Hunt, the author. Extensively illustrated with 48 photographs in black and white and 8 in colour and additionally, with several drawings. 8vo, publisher’s original blue cloth with gilt lettering on the spine, in the publisher’s original pictorial dustjacket. xx, 300 (with index) pp. A very good copy, the dustjacket and cloth with only a little evidence of age or use, the textblock in nice order, very clean. A very well preserved copy. A FINE FIRST EDITION COPY. Hunt reached as high a point on the mountain as any of the members other then Hillary and Tenzing.
The story of how, “on 29th May, 1953, two men, both endowed with outstanding stamina and skill, inspired by an unflinching resolve, reached the top of Everest and came back unscathed to rejoin their comrades.
“Yet this will not be the whole story, for the ascent of Everest was not the work of one day, nor even of those few anxious, unforgettable weeks in which we prepared and climbed this summer. It is, in fact, a tale of sustained and tenacious endeavour by many, over a long period of time... We of the 1953 Everest Expedition are proud to share the glory with our predecessors.
“And this will not be the story of those two men alone. In this or any other mountain venture, sound and successful climbing is fundamentally a matter of teamwork... The ascent of Everest, perhaps more than most human ventures, demanded a very high degree of selfless co-operation. It would be difficult to find a more close-knit team than ours. In this, and in the work of our Sherpas, lies the immediate secret of our success” (dustjacket).
The book also includes a foreword by the Duke of Edinburgh, a chapter by Sir Edmund Hillary describing his achievement of the summit, and an interesting appendix which includes a list of day to day notes on physiology and medicine written by the expedition's physiologist and doctor.