Hunt led the successful British Everest Expedition of 1953, during which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit. Alf Gregory, the main expedition photogrpaher, has signed this copy, as has Eric Shipton, the famous twentieth century mountaineer who was originally earmarked as the leader of the 1953 expedition, and who is mentioned throughout the book. Shipton was replaced by John Hunt before the expedition, in spite of his membership of Everest expeditions in the 1930s and having led the 1951 Everest reconnaissance. This is the first copy of Hunt’s book signed by Shipton that we have seen.