ANNAPURNA FIRST CONQUEST OF AN 8000-METER PEAK
SIGNED & DATED 3rd of June 1950 by Maurice Herzog
Price Reduced Was $350 -- Now Only $195
Original 1953 Hardcover with original Dust Jacket
FREE Media Mail shipping on this book!
This book is one of the most popular and inspiring narratives in the literature of mountaineering, and the first to become a 'bestseller.' Maurice Herzog told us that the book sold 15 million copies world-wide! That is four times as many as Into Thin Air!
Annapurna is the story of the French team that, in the summer of 1950, reconnoitered Dhaulagiri, and then located the approach to Annapurna, and made the 1st ascent on June 3, 1950.
This account of the 1950 French expedition to the Himalayas was written by the team's leader, Maurice Herzog. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in high altitude climbing. The book chronicles the first successful attempt to climb an 8,000-meter peak in the Himalayas, three years before Everest and K2 were first climbed.
This is a bright and handsome copy of one of the great classics of mountaineering. The book is NOT Ex Lib, This is NOT the 208 page abridged Book Club edition, This is NOT water damaged, and has no damage in any way. There is nothing about the book or dust jacket that is fake.
The original Dust Jacket is bright and clean, and is now protected in a ''Brodart'' plastic dust jacket cover to protect it. This is a real dust jacket, not a color copy. The DJ may show edge wear, or may have small edge pieces missing (chips), the book itself may have a previous owner's signature on the front endpaper.
There are no major flaws of the book, and we rate the condition of the book Near Fine.
Published in New York by Dutton, 1953, 2nd to 5th printing. 316 pages, 3 color photos, 25 black and white photos, 8 maps, 1 fold-out map. In English. This edition is identical to the first edition, using the same paper, the same photos, the same fold-out map, the same cover binding, and the same dust jacket.
The signature of Maurice Herzog is authentic. We were very fortunate to have known Monsieur Herzog personally, and met with him several times in America, and twice in his home in Paris. On our last visit to Paris to meet with Monsieur Herzog in 2010, he asked us if we would like for him to write anything more than his signature. I said yes, some collectors and Himalaya enthusiasts like to have the date of his climb written underneath his name.
As the most famous French mountain climber, as well as serving as the French Minister of Sport, and Mayor of Chamonix, he was beloved by his countrymen. We do not provide a Certificate of Authenticity as we feel that COA's have a whiff of phoniness about them, and are offered by companies who have no reputation.
Since 1984 we have been the leading Mountaineering Bookseller in the USA, and the World, and if you have not heard of us before we hope this book will provide a first taste of what we offer.
Our website, ChesslerBooks, has much more on who we are, and what the name Chessler Books means when buying a book signed by a famous mountain climber. See the next paragraph and our website for more details about who else has signed books for us, and why we can be trusted, thanks to our selling over half a million climbing books since 1984.
We have other Signed Books listed for sale on ebay, as well as on our website. One unique title is GOING UP, Signed by the Yosemite pioneer Joe Fitschen. Joe was the frequent companion of Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Tom Frost and all the other legends of early big wall rock climbing. This book was self published so it is nearly impossible to find in bookshops and websites.
Another unique SIGNED CLIMBING BOOK is HIGHEST AND HARDEST by Chris Kopczynski. Chris Kopczynski was a frequent ropemate (and schoolmate) of the legendary John Roskelley. Chris was one of the first Americans to be successful on two 8000m peaks, Mount Everest and Makalu, plus dozens of of other major peaks on all seven continents. He is one of the first to have completed both versions of the Seven Summits.
As the leading American Mountaineering Bookseller since 1984 we devoted the first twenty years of our existence to meeting with the great names of mountaineering and asking them to autograph copies of their books.
This task took us all over the world to meet with climbers such as Maurice Herzog, Edmund Hillary, Chris Bonington, Stephen Venables, Reinhold Messner, Heinrich Harrer, Jim Whittaker, Tom Hornbein, Jon Krakauer, David Breashears, Ed Viesturs, Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, Yvon Chouinard, Layton Kor, Kurt Diemberger, Paul Petzoldt, Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, Hans Florine, and dozens more.
We are Chessler Books. Since 1984 we have been the leading bookseller of Climbing Books in the USA, perhaps the world. We sell new and collectible climbing books, used and collectible guidebooks, narratives, histories, biographies, photo books, older ski books, everything.
We even sell vintage climbing gear such as ice axes, carabiners and pitons. Some of our pitons are signed in silver marker by climbers such as Fred Beckey, Conrad Anker and Tommy Caldwell.