CLIMBS IN THE NEW ZEALAND ALPS: BEING AN ACCOUNT OF TRAVEL AND DISCOVERY. New York, 1896, 1st Am edition. 363 pp, 46 plates, map in pocket. TEG, Uncut. Royal 8vo. Although three New Zealanders beat Fitzgerald to the 1st ascent of Mt. Cook, he and his guide Zurbriggen did the second ascent, and other first ascents. Leather title patch slightly scuffed as usual, otherwise Near Fine.
The scarce and fascinating early account of mountaineering in the mountains of New Zealand. Edward Arthur Fitzgerald (1871-1931) was a British soldier and mountaineer, who led important expeditions to New Zealand and South America, and accompanied Martin Conway on parts of his 1894 tour through the Alps. The light-hearted style used in writing about his New Zealand adventures met with much critical disapproval from New Zealander mountaineers.
In his Preface, the author states: 'The pages I am about to lay before the public contain the simple record of a journey of adventure, undertaken with a definite purpose...I went out to climb and to explore.' He had become interested in the mountains of New Zealand for two reasons: 'Partly because of the many unsuccessful attempts that had been made to ascend Mount Cook, their highest peak, and partly because I knew that a long, and so far fruitless, search had been instituted under the auspices of the Government Survey Department with the object of discovering some passage across the Southern alps to the West coast.'
He states that 'I have not aimed at a picturesque account of varied travel. I went out to climb and explore.' The author acknowledges the assistance of other writers and his illustrators: C. Barrow wrote the chapter on the ascent of Mount Sealy, Miss Walpole wrote the opening poem, and a trio of artists helped interpret the 'spirit of Alpine adventure and peril' - Pennell, McCormick, and Willink. McCormick is known for his illustrations in 'Himalayas' and 'Alps from End to End' by Sir Martin Conway.
From the Preface: '...That the settled and fertile colony of New Zealand should have still afforded virgin peaks to scale, that new passes were yet to be discovered and new valleys to be traversed - this may indeed surprise those of my readers who have no especial knowledge of the conditions and features of the Southern Island. How many of us have ever realized the existence of that vast range of Alps, of those glaciers surpassing the greatest in Switzerland, of those noble peaks whose crags re-echo to the thunder of almost perpetual avalanches?
'From the time when first my attention was directed to a region so insufficiently explored, I felt attracted by the hope that I might in some measure contribute towards the work of opening it up to future generations of Alpine climbers. How far these hopes were actually realized I leave the reader of the following pages to determine...'
Contents include: Leave Colombo; Leave Fairlie Creek; Mackenzie country; Camp at the Hermitage; Mount Sefton; Alpine climber's diet; Crossing the Hooker; Hochstetter bivouac; Start for Tasman; First glimpse of Sealy; Another attempt on Sefton; Pukaki; Return to Hermitage; Sunrise on Mount Tasman; Summit of Tasman; First view of Westland; Sefton bivouac; Goldwashing; Fox Glacier; Mount Gaskell; On the Eyre Glacier; Last look at Mount Cook; Summit of Cook; Appendices: Rock specimens from New Zealand Alps, Flora of Southern Alps, Birds, Equipment for climbing, and trout; Index.
