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 #: OP1510-845
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH: A PREPOSTEROUS ADVENTURE Eric Newby 1958 1st UK ed Hardcover Rare Dust Jacket Near Fine
By Newby, Eric
Price: $350.00

List Price: $750.00
You Save $400.00 (53%)



Add to wish list


Detailed Product Description
London, Secker & Warburg, 1958, 1st edition. 247 pages, b/w illustrations and plates, foldout maps.  Hardcover, book is Near Fine in a slightly chipped, but scarce, dust jacket. Near Fine condition overall.

Nore: I had assumed because of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that the area aroind Mir Samir is closed to climbers. However, just a week ago I was reading that several expeditions have gone in there, mostly Eastern European Climbers, from Poland, etc. 

Wikipedia says: After 2012 up to 10 expeditions from different international climbers unsuccessfully attempted to climb Mir Samir. In 2017, 8 Afghan climbers led by Zabih Afzali tried to climb Mir Samir; he tried again and reached 5749 metres in 2021 but lost his life.

Mir Samir altiude change, lost 7- feet: Now 5,809 m, 19,058 ft. 

One of the most absurd and delightful expeditions to attempt a Himalayan Peak: two amateur climbers attempt Mir Samir in Nuristan, and survive to tell a very funny tale.

Eric Newby has achieved a considerable success with his first book, The Last Grain Race, which described his experiences as an apprentice on the four-masted barque. Moshulu. During the war he joined the Special Boat Service and was captured after attacking a German airfield in Sicily. Whilst a prisoner-of-war Eric Newby was smitten with the ambition to explore and in his latest book A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush he tells the exciting and hihgly entertaining story of his journey with Hugh Carless of the British Foreign Service into the mysterious region of Nuristan in north-east Afghanistan.

Although their main objective was to climb Mir Samir, a mountain in the 20,000-foot zone, they had only four days' experience of scrambling up rock in Wales, a most inadequate assortment of climbing equipment, and a meager supply of canned food.

Their many adventures on the 7,000 mile journey by jeep from Istanbul were often ludicrous. From Kabul, accompanied by three surly Nuristani porters they set out on foot along the ancient trail route leading to Mir Samir, hot, arduous and windblown. 

Defeated by the mountain after a gallant attempt involving appalling hazards and hardships, they finally penetrated the wild and wondrous country of Nuristan to set their feet where only few Europeans have trod.

For more than a decade following the end of World War II, Eric Newby toiled away in the British fashion industry, peddling some of the ugliest clothes on the planet. Regarding one wafer-thin model in her runway best, he was reminded of 'those flagpoles they put up in the Mall when the Queen comes home.' 

Fortunately, Newby reached the end his haute-couture tether in 1956. At that point, with the sort of sublime impulsiveness that's forbidden to fictional characters but endemic to real ones, he decided to visit a remote corner of Afghanistan, where no Englishman had planted his brogans for at least 50 years.
 
What's more, he recorded his adventure in a classic narrative, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. The title, of course, is a fine example of Newby's habitual self-effacement, since his journey--which included a near-ascent of the 19,800-foot Mir Samir--was anything but short. 

And his book seems to furnish a missing link between the great Britannic wanderers of the Victorian era and such contemporary jungle nuts as Redmond O'Hanlon. At times it also brings to mind Evelyn Waugh, who contributed the preface. Newby is a less acidulous writer, to be sure, and he has little interest in launching the sort of heat-seeking satiric missiles that were Waugh's specialty. Still, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is a hilarious read.
 
The author excels at the dispiriting snapshot, capturing, say, the Afghan backwater of Fariman in two crisp sentences: 'A whole gale of wind was blowing, tearing up the surface of the main street. Except for two policemen holding hands and a dog whose hind legs were paralyzed it was deserted.' His capsule history of Nuristan also gets in some sly digs at Britain's special relationship with the violence-prone Abdur Rahman: Officially his subsidy had just been increased from 12,000 to 16,000 lakhs of rupees. 

To the British he had fully justified their selection of him as Amir of Afghanistan and, apart from the few foibles remarked by Lord Curzon, like flaying people alive who displeased him, blowing them from the mouths of cannon, or standing them up to the neck in pools of water on the summits of high mountains and letting them freeze solid, he had done nothing to which exception could be taken.
 
Newby also surpasses Waugh--and indeed, most other travel writers--in another important respect: he's miraculously free of solipsism. Even the keenest literary voyagers tend to be, in the purest sense of the term, self-centered. But A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush includes wonderfully oblique portraits of the author's travel companion, Hugh Carless, and his wife, Wanda (who plays a starring role in such subsequent chronicles as Slowly down the Ganges). 

There are also dozens of brilliant cameo parts, and an indelible record of a stunning landscape. The roof of the world is, in Newby's rendering, both an absolute heaven and a low-oxygen hell. Yet the author never pretends to pit himself against a malicious Nature--his mountains are, in Frost's memorable phrase, too lofty and original to rage. Which is yet another reason to call this little masterpiece a peak performance.

Other Items You Might Like

  • Similar Items Available
  • Items From This Author
  • Items From This Category
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH Eric Newby 1986 Paperback VG-Fine Fine 2 copies available
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.95 ~ Regular $14.95, You Save $10.00 (67%)
- Item # BK1105B-8642
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH Eric Newby 2008 Softcover Very Good-Near Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $15.00, You Save $10.01 (67%)
- Item # BK1105-953
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE KAFIRS OF THE HINDU-KUSH George Scott Robertson London 1896 1st UK edition VG
By: Robertson, Sir Geroge Scott. Illustrated by A.D. McCormick
Price $150.00 ~ Regular $900.00, You Save $750.00 (83%)
- Item # OP2311-839
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SLOWLY DOWN THE GANGES Eric Newby 1986 Paperback Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $40.00, You Save $35.01 (88%)
- Item # OP3790-864
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
A WALK IN THE SKY Nicholas Clinch 1982 1st edition Hardcover DJ Fine [Not signed]
By: Clinch, Nicholas
Price $28.75 ~ Regular $100.00, You Save $71.25 (71%)
- Item # OP2263H-839
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE LAST GRAIN RACE Erick Newby 1956 1st US ed Hardcover With DJ Near Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $19.95, You Save $14.96 (75%)
- Item # PL6743B-684
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MOUNTAIN WORLD 1968/1969 Hardcover DJ Very Good-Fine Multiple Copies Available
By: Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $55.05 (73%)
- Item # MW1968-8613
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
WILDER HINDUKUSCH: ERLEBNISSE IN AFGHANISTAN UND DEM ZWEITHOCHSTEN DER ERDE [WILD HINDU KUSH: EXPERIENCES IN AFGHANISTAN AND THE SECOND (sic) HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD] Max Eiselin 1963 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine
By: Eiselin, Max
Price $29.00 ~ Regular $150.00, You Save $121.00 (81%)
- Item # OP714-523
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
WILDER HINDUKUSCH: ERLEBNISSE IN AFGHANISTAN UND DEM ZWEITHOCHSTEN DER ERDE [WILD HINDU KUSH: EXPERIENCES IN AFGHANISTAN AND THE SECOND (sic) HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD] Max Eiselin 1963 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Max Eiselin
By: Eiselin, Max
Price $75.00
- Item # OP714-857
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MOUNTAIN JOURNEYS: STORIES OF CLIMBERS AND THEIR CLIMBS James P. Vermeulen 1989 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine-New
By: Vermeulen, James P.
Price $5.99 ~ Regular $20.00, You Save $14.01 (70%)
- Item # BK1615-959
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH Eric Newby 2008 Softcover Very Good-Near Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $15.00, You Save $10.01 (67%)
- Item # BK1105-953
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH Eric Newby 1986 Paperback VG-Fine Fine 2 copies available
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.95 ~ Regular $14.95, You Save $10.00 (67%)
- Item # BK1105B-8642
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE LAST GRAIN RACE Erick Newby 1956 1st US ed Hardcover With DJ Near Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $19.95, You Save $14.96 (75%)
- Item # PL6743B-684
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ROUND IRELAND IN LOW GEAR. Eric Newby 1989 Paperback Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99
- Item # OP3441-864
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SLOWLY DOWN THE GANGES Eric Newby 1986 Paperback Fine
By: Newby, Eric
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $40.00, You Save $35.01 (88%)
- Item # OP3790-864
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE TREKKER'S GUIDE TO HIMALAYA AND KARAKORAM Hugh Swift 1982 1st ed Softcover Fine 2 Copies Available
By: Swift, Hugh
Price $25.00
- Item # GB5096-9542
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
UNDER A SICKLE MOON Peregrine Hodson 1987 1st US edition Softcover Near Fine-Fine
By: Hodson, Peregrine
Price $1.99
- Item # OP5420-936
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
NANGA PARBAT: DIE GESCHICHTE EINES ACHTTAUSENDERS [NANGA PARBAT: THE STORY OF AN EIGHT-THOUSANDER] Karl Herrligkoffer 1981 Paperback Near Fine
By: Herrligkoffer, Karl
Price $1.99 ~ Regular $15.00, You Save $13.01 (87%)
- Item # OP7080-376
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE LAST MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN: THE DEATH OF AN AMERICAN ADVENTURER ON K2 Jennifer Jordan 2010 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine
By: Jordan, Jennifer
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $26.95, You Save $7.00 (26%)
- Item # BK2462-932
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MUNDIK NI 43-3 US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP (U-502) Karakoram West. Masherbrum, Biafo and Baltoro Glaciers, Skardu, Indus Fine Multiple Copies Available
By: US Army Map U-502 NI 43-3
Price $9.95 ~ Regular $15.00, You Save $5.05 (34%)
- Item # MP2128-9574
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
GEOLOGISCHE QUERSCHNITT DES KARAKORUM VOM INDUS ZUM SHAKSGAM (Gasherbrum 2 first ascent)Expedition to Gasherbrum II and First Ascent in 1956 with Panoramas T.E. Gattinger Wien 1961 1st Edition Fine
By: Gattinger, T.E. Austrian Himalaya Karakoram Expedition 1956
Price $85.00 ~ Regular $250.00, You Save $165.00 (66%)
- Item # OP2463-872
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
LONELY PLANET PAKISTAN King, Mayhew, Vincent 1998 5th ed Softcover Near Fine
By: King, John, Bradley Mayhew, David St. Vincent
Price $9.99 ~ Regular $17.95, You Save $7.96 (44%)
- Item # GB8056-954
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
FIRST ASCENT OF MANASLU IN PHOTOGRAPHS 1952-56 Yoshinori Yoda Japan 1956 1st ed Slipcase Like New RARE FIRST ASCENT OF AN 8000M PEAK, IN ENGLISH! Multiple Copies Available
By: Yoda, Yoshinori, Mainichi Newspapersn 1956
Price $149.99 ~ Regular $400.00, You Save $250.01 (63%)
- Item # OP1251-8396p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
TO THE FRONTIER Geoffrey Moorhouse 1984 1st ed Hardcover DJ Near Fine
By: Moorhouse, Geoffrey
Price $25.00 ~ Regular $30.00, You Save $5.00 (17%)
- Item # OP3503-896
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
MIENTRAS HAYA LUZ: TRAGEDIA EN EL NANGA PARBAT [WHILE THERE IS LIGHT: TRAGEDY IN THE NANGA PARBAT] Eduard Sallent 2002 1st ed Paperback Fine
By: Sallent, Eduard
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $9.95, You Save $4.96 (50%)
- Item # BK6659-860
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart