The Conquest of Everest.

HUNT, John; With a Chapter on the Final Assault by Edmund Hillary [Tenzing Norgay].

Item Number: 136997

New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1954.

First edition of this classic account of the first ascent of Mount Everest. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated with 8 pages of  photographs in full color, and 48 pages in black and white, maps, sketches and drawings. Foreword by Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. Boldly signed by signed by three expedition members on the front endpaper, Edmund Hillary, George Lowe and Charles Evans. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed by these mountaineering legends.

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.