KILLING DRAGONS: THE CONQUEST OF THE ALPS.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] FINE/FINE.Neat,blue ink gift presentation inscrptn to top right-hand corner of ffe (front free endpaper) and no price-clip (£20.00) to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,monochrome illustration reproduction illustrated dw/dj panels,with blue+red lettering to front panel; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip and clean plain pale blue endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,vi-ixpp+2- 398pp [paginated] includes preface and acknowledgements,27 chapters each with a b/w line headpiece illustration,16pp contemporary,historical b/w 19thC illustration reproductions and b/w photographs in 2 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp116/7 and pp276/7 respectively,a 4pp select biblio,20pp sources,and an index,plus [unpaginated] half-title page,b/w line headpiece illustrated title page,double-page b/w map of showing Alps mountain range of Europe (includes France,Switzerland and Austria) and 6pp blanks at the rear. A HAIR-RAISING,HILARIOUS ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH OF MOUNTAINEERING. Above the pastures of Switzerland,it was believed,dragons and ghosts inhabited the realms of ice and snow.No one in their right mind considered climbing into the Alps - and certainly not for pleasure.In the late 18thC,however,scientific gentlemen began to turn their minds to these high places.What would the peaks tell us about the atmosphere, about weather,about glaciers? And so they set off,early pioneers like the Swiss geologist Saussure and his rival Bourrit,armed with gallons of wine,roast fowl,theodolites and barometers,walking in their ordinary clothes up the sheer rocks into the unknown.When the British came on the scene,mountain-climbing as an obsession,an art form and a sport was born.Full of the imperial confidence that had already conquered so much of Asia and Africa,Britons set out to plant their flag on every peak in the Alps.These early Alpine adventurers were fanatically competitive climbers.They included John Tyndall,the famous physicist who wished to test theories about how glaciers were formed; showmen,like Albert Smith,the Victorian impresario who made a fortune putting the conquest of Mont Blanc onto the London stage and zealots,like Edward Whymper, the wood engraver turned monomaniacal mountaineer.They fought each other on the peaks and in print,their rivalries lasting for years,and entertained a vast public in the process.The great mountains were conquered one by one,by insouciant public schoolboys and dogged tradesmen alike.The glaciers accumulated mangled bodies that made their way slowly down to the valleys.More and more tourists came; the dragons were dead.By the third decade of the 20thC only the suicidally dangerous north faces of the Eiger and Matterhorn remained to be climbed by the proteges of Hitler and Mussolini Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices, weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the weight/value of this item for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!