The Ascent of Everest signed by John Hunt first edition 1953

London: Hodder & Stoughton (1953)
 
8vo; pp xx, 300; sea blue boards with gilt lettering to spine, with coloured and black and white photograph plates throughout, as well as the iconic image on the frontispiece of Tenzing Norgay on the summit; with the original wraparound illustrative dust wrapper of Everest by W Heaton Cooper; unclipped displaying the correct price of 25/-net; overall a very near fine copy and rare thus, there is a tiny amount of wear to the spine ends of the book and a browning patch on a preliminary page otherwise it is a highly collectible copy. 
 
First edition and signed in blue ink without dedication by the team leader and author Colonel John Hunt, the title page. The forward was given by the Duke of Edinburgh who would have been witnessing his wife’s coronation on the day it was announced to the world that Hillary and Norgay had reached the summit. Hillary also contributed to the book by writing chapter 16. The Swiss expedition team of 1952 had gotten close to achieving the goal of putting a man on the summit of the mountain only months before, and there were other attempts to follow from the French, planned for 1954 and the Swiss again in 1955, so Hunt and his expedition team knew that realistically they had one shot at achieving immortality. Hillary and Norgay reached the summit, climbing the South Col route, on May 29th, 1953, and the seemingly impossible was achieved.