Description: WHEN MEN AND MOUNTAINS MEET EXPLORERS OF THE WESTERN HIMALAYAS, 1820-75 JOHN KEAY JOHN MURRAY: LONDON 1977 1st edition. 22 x 14 cm. x + 277 pp + b/w photo plates + double page map. HB/DJ As a challenge for explorers the mountain wilderness between India and Inner Asia was unique; no comparable region aroused such intense interest. The Western Himalayas were seen as a barrier guarding fabled cities unvisited since Marco Polo, barring the way for the commercial opening of Central Asia and Inland China. It took half a century to penetrate this barrier - evidence enough of the appalling difficulties involved. Then, as now, these were partly man-made, for the mountains were of overriding strategic and political importance: there was too much at stake for the sort of free-for-all that happened in Africa or Australia. The freelance traveller was discouraged or discredited; official travellers operated behind a dense screen of secrecy and unlikely excuses. Then there was the terrain - the most formidable on earth, powerful enough to undermine man's sense of self-importance. Yet these explorers are characters of extraordinary stature; Alexander Gardiner, the American adventurer who brought the spirit of O K Corral to the Afghan Hindu Kush; Joseph Wolff, the mad missionary who crossed the same range stark naked; Victor Jacquemont, the Byronic Parisian who suffered for his love of the ladies; or Thomas Thomson, the Scottish naturalist who first reached the crest of the Karakorams. Along with the legendary Moor-croft and dogged surveyors like Godwin-Austen they fully live up to their magnificent setting. From his close acquaintance with the terrain and his unrivalled knowledge of the protagonists, John Keay has written what is surprisingly the first narrative account of the exploration of this, the greatest mountain complex on earth. Here is a story that rivals the search for the sources of the Nile and the race for the South Pole. WHEN MEN AND MOUNTAINS MEET THE EXPLORERS OF THE WESTERN HIMALAYAS 1820-75 JOHN KEAY JOHN MURRAY: LONDON 1977 First edition. As a challenge for explorers the mountain wilderness between India and Inner Asia was unique; no comparable region aroused such intense interest. The Western Himalayas were seen as a barrier guarding fabled cities unvisited since Marco Polo, barring the way for the commercial opening of Central Asia and Inland China. It took half a century to penetrate this barrier - evidence enough of the appalling difficulties involved. Then, as now, these were partly man-made, for the mountains were of overriding strategic and political importance: there was too much at stake for the sort of free-for-all that happened in Africa or Australia. The freelance traveller was discouraged or discredited; official travellers operated behind a dense screen of secrecy and unlikely excuses. Then there was the terrain - the most formidable on earth, powerful enough to undermine man's sense of self-importance. Yet these explorers are characters of extraordinary stature; Alexander Gardiner, the American adventurer who brought the spirit of OK Corral to the Afghan Hindu Kush; Joseph Wolff, the mad missionary who crossed the same range stark naked; Victor Jacquemont, the Byronic Parisian who suffered for his love of the ladies; or Thomas Thomson, the Scottish naturalist who first reached the crest of the Karakorams. Along with the legendary Moorcroft and dogged surveyors like Godwin-Austen they fully live up to their magnificent setting. From his close acquaintance with the terrain and his unrivalled knowledge of the protagonists, John Keay has written what is surprisingly the first narrative account of the exploration of this, the greatest mountain complex on earth. Here is a story that rivals the search for the sources of the Nile and the race for the South Pole. 22 x 14 cm. x + 277 pp + b/w photo plates + double page map. Very good + condition, price clipped dust jacket slightly faded on the spine but otherwise very clean and tidy. Pictures sell! Auctiva offers Free Image Hosting and Editing. The complete eBay Selling Solution.
Price: 6.99 GBP
Location: Carlisle
End Time: 2024-11-18T12:01:45.000Z
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Author: J Keay
Binding: Hardback
Language: English
Non-Fiction Subject: Travel Guides & Travel Stories
Publisher: John Murray
Region: Asia
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Dust Jacket, Illustrated
Year Printed: 1977
