Full title: To the Top of the Continent: Discovery, Exploration and Adventure in Sub-Arctic Alaska. The First Ascent of Mount McKinley, 1903-1906
New York, 1908, 1st edition. 321 pp, 47 plates. TEG. This copy has the slightest edges rubbing and bumps, but is remarkably Fine considering its age. It has no writing, just a tasteful bookplate, no foxing, no stains, no wear, no fading, none of the many faults that occur in books that are over a century old.
This copy came from a collection of a climber who was active before 1930. He was the grandfather of a customer of ours, so we learned a few facts about him. A number of books in his collection, such as this one, are in unusually Fine condition, and my suspicion is that he purchased this book New, and it remained in the family for over a century. It was never sold as a used book, was never in a used bookstore, and not counting us, the buyer of this book will be only the second owner in 104 years!
One of the most controversial books in the literature of mountaineering. Cook falsified his claims to have made the first ascent of McKinley. "He claimed to have made the first ascent of Mount McKinley but this was later proved to be false." A.B. 3390. "Detailed description of the approaches to, and the routes up Mt. McKinley, in a narrative of two expeditions, 1903 and 1906."
