Wilson, Claude.

Mountaineering. With illustrations by Ellis Carr.

London, George Bell & Sons, 1893. 12 cm x 17 cm. 208 pages. Hardcover [publisher’s original green cloth] with lettering and pictorial on front baord. Good condition only with signs of external wear and fading. Spine and hinges are worn and faded. Binding a little shaky but holding. Interior is bright and clean. [The All- England Series]

Includes, for example, the following: Mountaineering in Great Britain / Dangers of Mountaineering / Guides / Snow and Ice-work / Rock-work / Climbing Without Guides etc.
Also, initial pages carry contemporary adverts for mountaineering equipment form supplier such as Hill and Son of London that may also delight those with an interest in this bygone era.

This charming book is written to meet the growing enthusiasm for the hills and mountains in late 19th Century Britain. The author offers a quick history of mountaineering and advice for the would-be adventurers on how to approach their tasks. Regarding provisions, for example, the reader is told that “[t]he beverage most commonly carried is wine, either red or white, and each colour has its advocates. The great advantage is that, while it can be drunk undiluted, it is freely miscible with water, and the addition to this mixture of a little sugar and lemon juice makes a very refreshing and agreeable drink.” (p.75)
″To do justice to the charms of mountaineering would require a much more able pen than mine. The pursuit is one which offers to its votaries keener pleasures than they find elsewhere, which leaves enduring memories free from alloy, and which stimulates to the building up of plans for future years, rivalling in fascination the memories of the past. It is a pleasure which may be begun in youth, and enjoyed as long as any capacity for active exercise remains. Much has been written on this theme; yet I do not think its charms will yield to analysis…. after all that has been said that can be said, there is an indescribable charm in climbing, which appeals to certain natures.” Mountaineering, Wilson continues, is a type of travel “which, beside offering to those who will see them, glimpses of almost more than worldly beauty, is itself replete with moral teaching and ennobling influence.” (p.6)

• Keywords: 19th Century · British History of Climbing · British History of Mountaineering · British Sports · climbing · Guide books · guidebook · Handbook · Handbooks, manuals, etc · Library & Collection Building · Medical · Medical care · Mountaineer’s Mountain · Mountaineering · Mountaineering – Collection · Mountaineering – Rare · Mountaineers · Mountains · Nature · Nature trail · Nature Writing · Outdoors · Sports
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 120104AB