Chessler Books
Rock Climbing - Mountaineering - Exploration
New - Used - Collectible - Signed
Chessler Books Accepts PAYPAL Chessler Books Accepts VISA Chessler Books Accepts MASTERCARD Chessler Books Accepts DISCOVER CARD Chessler Books Accepts AMERICAN EXPRESS
All Orders Shipped via United States Postal Service   Chessler Books Ships Via USPS
Author:
Title:
Keyword:
Item #:
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M Mc N O P Q
R S T U V W X Y Z
Item #: BK2492-856
SHADOW OF THE MATTERHORN: THE LIFE OF EDWARD WHYMPER 2011 1st UK ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Ian Smith
By Smith, Ian
Price: $79.95


Add to wish list


Detailed Product Description
UK, Carrig, 2011, 1st edition. Many b/w illustrations by Edward Whymper, plus modern color photos. Hardcover with dust jacket. Fine.

SIGNED on the title page by Ian Smith


In 1865 Edward Whymper was the second mountaineering Superstar (the first was Albert Smith 15 years earlier), and his ascent of the Matterhorn electrified England where the new sport of mountain climbing was captivating both the gentlemen of means who took up the sport, and the masses of people who read about climbing in the newspapers, magazines and books of the day.
 
Richly illustrated with Whymper’s engravings and previously unpublished photographs, this biography – the first in 70 years – uses new material from archives around the world, and from Whymper’s family, to give a fuller picture of this artisan from London, who had such an impact on the story of mountaineering.
 
A new assessment of Whymper’s achievements comes with previously unknown details about his remarkable family, and his short – lived marriage. Whymper’s diaries and notebooks are used here for the first time to show his dry, self–deprecating sense of humor, and his unusual perceptiveness about the Greenlanders and the people he met in Ecuador.
 
When just twenty-five years of age, Edward Whymper crowned a meteoric climbing career with the first ascent of the Matterhorn, the last great unclimbed summit in the Alps. However, this triumph came with a notoriety and a lasting sorrow due to the catastrophic accident on the descent that killed 4 climbers.
 
Whymper then turned his attention to the Arctic and made two adventurous expeditions to north west Greenland, described here for the first time. A remarkably successful trip to Ecuador, where he climbed Chimborazo and the country’s other highest mountains and camped on the rim of Cotopaxi, a live volcano, and established the modus operandi for expeditions to the greater ranges. His 1892 book about the Andes, Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator, was also a bestseller.
 
From a large family in south London Whymper trained as a wood engraver, and this craft provided his living and financed his travels. His mountaineering achievements have overshadowed his distinction as an engraver, but new research shows the importance of his book illustrations. 

A talented writer, Whymper produced one of the finest and earliest best-selling mountaineering books ever written, Scrambles amongst the Alps, about his heroic quest for the Matterhorn. The book is still in print, we have paperbacks for $9.99 only 153 years after it was written (Amazon's price is $23.10, same edition.)

Ian Smith provides a sympathetic picture of a complex and misunderstood person, whose youthful exuberance matured into the ambition to be known as an explorer. 

Other Items You Might Like

  • Similar Items Available
  • Items From This Author
  • Items From This Category
TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES OF THE EQUATOR Edward Whymper 1987 Color Illustrated ed Hardcover DJ Fine 2 copies available
By: Whymper, Edward and Loren McIntyre (Photos)
Price $40.00
- Item # OP1729D-8492
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS IN THE YEARS 1860-69 Edward Whymper 1871 UK 1st edition Near Fine
By: Whymper, Edward
Price $1495.00
- Item # OP1787C-850
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS IN THE YEARS 1860-69 Edward Whymper 1871 UK 1st edition ''Fourth Thousand'' Very Good
By: Whymper, Edward
Price $120.00 ~ Regular $200.00, You Save $80.00 (40%)
- Item # OP1787E-854
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
EDWARD WHYMPER Frank Smythe 1940 1st UK ed Hardcover
By: Smythe, Frank
Price $39.99 ~ Regular $250.00, You Save $210.01 (84%)
- Item # OP1119A-847
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS IN THE YEARS 1860-69 Edward Whymper 1986 Illustrated ed Hardcover DJ Near Fine-Fine Multiple Copies Available
By: Whymper, Edward and John Cleare (color photos)
Price $40.00 ~ Regular $50.00, You Save $10.00 (20%)
- Item # OP1787J-8493
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS IN THE YEARS 1860 - 1869 Edward Whymper 2002 New Softcover 2 Copies Available
By: Whymper, Edward
Price $9.99 ~ Regular $14.00, You Save $4.01 (29%)
- Item # BK1689A-9402
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MATTERHORN: THE QUINTESSENTIAL MOUNTAIN Graeme Wallace and Edward Whymper 2016 Hardcover DJ Fine Multiple copies available
By: Wallace, Graeme and Edward Whymper
Price $39.95 ~ Regular $79.95, You Save $40.00 (50%)
- Item # BK8490-8614p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES OF THE EQUATOR 2 Volumes Edward Whymper 1891-92 1st UK ed Hardcover Very Good 2 Sets Available
By: Whymper, Edward
Price $299.99 ~ Regular $750.00, You Save $450.01 (60%)
- Item # OP1729A-9332p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF A MOUNTAINEER: EDWARD WHYMPER'S LONDON DIARY 1855-1859
By: Whymper, Edward, Edited by Ian Smith
Price $125.00
- Item # BK8360-874
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MEN AND THE MATTERHORN Gaston Rebuffat 1967 1st UK ed Hardcover DJ Fine
By: Rebuffat, Gaston
Price $95.00 ~ Regular $150.00, You Save $55.00 (37%)
- Item # OP1768B-853p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
Sorry, we were unable find any similar items available by this author.


DER MONTE-ROSA: EINE TOPOGRAPHISCHE UND NATURHISTORISCHE SKIZZE [THE MONTE ROSA: A TOPOGRAPHICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SKETCH] Ludwig Freiherr von Welden 1992 Hardcover DJ Fine
By: Welden, Ludwig Freiherr von
Price $3.99 ~ Regular $29.95, You Save $25.96 (87%)
- Item # OP4048-938p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
DER SCHNEE HASE NO 28 1966-1968: JAHRBUCH DES SCHWEIZERISCHEN AKADEMISCHEN SKI-CLUB SAS
By: Schweizerischer Akademischer Skiclub
Price $4.99
- Item # OP4301-172
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
TARTARIN SUR LES ALPES [TARTARIN ON THE ALPS Novel] Alphonse Daudet 1980 Hardcover Near Fine
By: Daudet, Alphonse
Price $1.99 ~ Regular $35.00, You Save $33.01 (94%)
- Item # OP7201A-939
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
PRICE GUIDE TO BOOKS CONCERNING BRITISH MOUNTAINEERS AND MOUNTAINEERING Dek Palmer 2000 1st ed New
By: Palmer, Dek
Price $16.00
- Item # BK1155-861
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
FINALE ITALIA 1200 CLIMBING ROUTES GUIDEBOOK Andrea Gallo 1981 1st ed Fine
By: Gallo, Andrea
Price $4.99
- Item # GB3421-864
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
LIVING THE HIGH LIFE Rob MacCallum 2020 1st ed New Paperback 3 Copies Available
By: MacCallum, Rob
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $30.00, You Save $10.05 (33%)
- Item # BK4377- 8613
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ROPE BOY Dennis Gray 1970 1st UK ed Hardcover Near Fine
By: Gray, Dennis
Price $25.00 ~ Regular $35.00, You Save $10.00 (29%)
- Item # OP531-949
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
CLIMBS AND SKI RUNS: MOUNTAINEERING AND SKI-ING IN THE ALPS, GREAT BRITAIN AND CORSICA F.S. Smythe 1929 1st ed Hardcover Fine
By: Smythe, Frank
Price $45.00 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $30.00 (40%)
- Item # OP9467A-846
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ADVENTURES OF AN ALPINE GUIDE Christian Klucker 1932 1st ed Hardcover No DJ Near Fine
By: Klucker, Christian
Price $19.99 ~ Regular $60.00, You Save $40.01 (67%)
- Item # OP1204D-846
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
DE PRISCA AC VERA ALPINA RHAETIA [THE ANCIENT AND TRUE ALPINE SWITZERLAND] Aegidius Tschudi 1974 reprint Hardcover Fine
By: Tschudi, Aegidius
Price $1.99 ~ Regular $99.95, You Save $97.96 (98%)
- Item # OP6805-942
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart