THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST

New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1954. First Edition published in the United States, the English edition was published under the title The Ascent of Everest. This copy with two commemorative postage stamps in mint condition, issued in India with scenes of Everest, tipped onto the dedication page. Extensively illustrated with 48 photographs in black and white and 8 in colour and additionally, with several drawings. AND WITH A CLIPPING showing President Eisenhower congratulating Edmund Hillary with John Hunt looking on. 8vo, publisher’s original tan cloth over blue paper covered boards, the spine with aa light blue label printed in dark blue, the upper cover with a pictorial illustration of Everest. xx, 300 (with index), collation and pagination the same as the English first edition. A fine and very appealing copy, internally as fresh and clean as one could hope to find, the binding with only very minor mellowing or evidence of age. A pleasing survival. FIRST EDITION, WITH COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED IN INDIA CELEBRATING THE ASCENT OF EVEREST.
THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST is 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, and 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.