Bari, 1960, 2nd edition. The Italian 1st edition of Karakoram, describing the first ascent of Gasherbrum 4 by Riccardo Cassin. This copy SIGNED by Riccardo Cassin, who did the 1st ascent, and Robert Schauer, who climbed the West Face of Gasherbrum 4 with Voytek Kurtyka, and was David Breashears' second in command of the Everest Imax movie expedition in 1986. DJ has been repaired, rubber stamp on title page and FEP, else Fine.
Riccardo Cassin was born in northern Italy in 1909. After being a blacksmith and a boxer, he discovered mountaineering. His legendary career has included about 2500 climbs - in Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria, Spain, Yugoslavia, Scotland, the Riccardo CassinCaucasus, Alaska, Peru, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan and Patagonia. Over one hundred of these were first ascents, accomplished over a span of decades, from the southwest face of Lavaredo Piccolissima in 1934 to the south face of Mount McKinley in 1961 and the west face of Jirishanca in 1965.
At age 78, he repeated the northeast face of Badile Peak on the 50th anniversary of his first ascent. He has published 10 books on climbing and has been honoured by numerous mountain organizations and governments. Reinhold Messner said of him: 'He's a milestone in the history of climbing'.
