ANNAPURNA: First Conquest of an 8000-meter Peak [26,493 feet]

New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc, 1953. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. The first edition in English, translated from the French by Nea Morin and Janet Adam Smith. In 1950, when no mountain taller than 8,000 meters had ever been climbed, Maurice Herzog led an expedition of French climbers to the summit of an 8,075-meter (26,493-foot) Himalayan peak called Annapurna. The route up Annapurna had never been charted, and Herzog and his team had to locate the mountain using crude maps, pick out a possible line of ascent, and go for the summit. Annapurna is the unforgettable account of this heroic climb and its harrowing aftermath, including (truncated) a nightmare descent while suffering from frostbite and snow blindness. Cartographic and Photographic Documentation by Marcel Ichac, with an Introduction by Eric Shipton. Octavo: [2], 316 pp. with 3 color-gravure, 8 maps (2 folding), and 24 monochrome-gravure. Original blue cloth-covered boards over a black cloth spine with silver-stamped titles. A near copy in a near fine dust jacket with some light toning and wear along the spine and extremities. (Inventory #: 78333)