This copy is SIGNED on the title page as "E.P. Hillary" although he preferred to be called Ed by everybody. E.P. Hillary copies are not personalized as in ''to Martha, climb high.'' Now I realize that perhaps I should have asked him to also write ''29 May, 1953'' which was the most important day of his life. That means a lot to you and us, but nothing to the other 8 billion people now alive.
London, 1999, 1st UK edition. 310 pp, color and b/w photos. Original Gray cloth hardcover with a bright Dust Jacket. Other than the author's signature there is no writing in the book or other flaws. The dust jacket has no wear and is not torn, repaired, stained, faded, soiled or price clipped. The Dust Jacket is now protected by a removable Brodart clear plastic jacket cover. The Dust Jacket and the Book are both in Fine condition.
Hardcovers of View From The Summit were done only in England, New Zealand and Australia. The USA and all other countries published this book as a large ''trade'' paperback. I never asked Ed, or anybody, to sign paperbacks.
A word on book condition: Fine vs New?
Many books that we describe as Fine are actually in New condition. Over half the books we are now selling as used books or signed books were originally sold by us to a mountaineering book collector or reader when the book was new, usually the same year as the first edition. So it never caught and acquired any social disease by sitting on a shelf with unrelated used books. The DJ stayed clean and undamaged, so the book underneath is usually the same. We have actually seen several books where the DJ is Fine, but somehow the book's spine or cover has faded from sunlight.
Two old Chessler Books customers of A View From The Summit have recently sold their books back to us, so most of his or her books have never suffered the indignity of having been bought and sold several times over the years. It is still in New condition. The DJ is still glossy and the Brodart cover may have been put on when the book was new. The book and DJ are not faded and soiled.
Almost all old dust jackets have acquired a patina, a coating of soiling, from being handled or from the environment. Wipe the DJ with a Kleenex tissue or a paper towel that you moistened with rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl) and then wipe the dust jacket. Test the alcohol first on a part of the DJ that does not show, like the inside of the DJ, where the flap folds under the cover, may be a good place. The color and letters Modern book jackets rarely will be sensitive to alcohol. Many pre 1960 books will be harmed by the alsohol. So just try again with a new Kleenex and clean water (distilled for babies was $1 a gallon at Walmart two weeks ago.)
This is a superb copy of this first UK edition. Sir Edmund Hillary is the best known and most beloved climber of our time. Here is his complete autobiography, covering both his early climbs and later emergence as a world statesman.
We asked Ed which is the true first edition, as hardcovers were done only in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. He assured us that the UK edition was the true first. Lady June Hillary pointed out to us that on the copyright page is the accidental use of the blurb used only on books of fiction: "All characters in this book bear no relationship to any person living or dead," which in today's world is good for a chuckle, and thankfully not a lawsuit.
In this book Ed Hillary looks back on that landmark 1953 expedition, as well as his remarkable explorations in other exotic locales, from the South Pole to the Ganges. View From The Summit is the compelling life story of a New Zealand bee keeper who daydreamed of wild adventures; he was the pioneering climber who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth after scaling the world's tallest peak; and later the elder statesman and unlikely diplomat whose ground-breaking program of aid to Nepal continues to this day, paying his debt of worldwide fame in the Himalaya and for its people.
This was the last book that Hillary wrote. We were lucky to be able to meet with him many times, here in Colorado, usually in the USA. In the USA we met Ed in LA, SF, NY, Colorado, Banff, and seven times in Auckland. He was always generous in signing books, ice axes, photos from the climbs, and even some oxygen cylinders that had been high on Everest and possibly to the summit. We had modern Poisk oxygen tanks, and none from 1953 or earlier which have been scavenged long ago, before 1980.)
In return we contributed generously the the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust, the offical name for his philanthropic organization that built schools, hospitals and even small dams in local brooks to supply electricity to a nearby village. He enlisted many local men and women to build the Lukla airport (LUA), now officially called the Tenzing-Hillary Airport which brought prosperity, better health, and education to the entire Solukhumbu District and beyond. The aiport also saved expeditions two weeks hiking to get in to Everest basecamp and one week to get out. The H-T Airport brought mostly the good things (and some regrettable things too) of Western culture to the Himalaya.
Key dates of the Himalayan Trust
1960 Sir Edmund Hillary establishes the Himalayan Trust
1961 Khumjung school is built
1963 Pangboche and Thami school built.
1964 First landing at Lukla airstrip after built by the Trust
1966 Khunde hospital opens
1973 Salleri High school built.
1976 Phaplu hospital opens
1986 Kharikhola Middle school built
2002 Local Sherpa, Kami Temba takes charge at Khunde hospital
2007 Himalayan Trust Nepal registered as a local NGO to works in Nepal for Himalayan Trust New Zealand.
2014 Lukla water project completed.
2014 Everest Avalanche Appeal launched..
2015 Nepal Earthquake Appeal launched and rebuild work begins.
