Item #85756 MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young. Scott Russell.
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young
MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young

MOUNTAIN PROSPECT; Foreward by Geoffrey Winthrop Young

London, England: Chatto and Windus, 1946. Hardcover. Octavo, 5.5 x 8.25 in., pp. xvi + 248. Illustrated with forty-seven black and white plates and seven maps. Blue cloth boards with gilt title in green, gilt-framed panel. Corners nudged; top front corner cloth worn away to very tip. Age-toning to pages and to dustjacket. Rubbing to dustjacket edges and corners. Chips to top/bottom of dustjacklet spine and top corners. Creases to top of back panel. Protected in mylar. Very Good / Good. Item #85756

"Scott Russell was a prisoner of war in Singapore for three and a half years. It was during this time—when, as he says, the present and the future were alike blank—that this refreshing book of mountain adventure first saw the light. Russell, because of his scientific knowledge of plants, was put in charge of the gardens where men worked to provide the all too meagre rations of the prisoners. He persuaded the Japanese to give him paper to make lists of plants and in this way was able to keep two copies of the book going, in case one should be discovered and confiscated.

Not a sign of the conditions under which it was written appears in this delightful account of mountain adventure, which ranges from unexplored valleys of New Zealand to the snows of the Karakorams, and is illustrated by excellent photographs. Here was a lucky boy: he had all the thrill of discovering a new world at his very door in the untrodden valleys and peaks, the interesting vegetation of New Zealand—all within a scale where it was possible for him to forge his own mountain experience with his chosen companions. ...

After a short chapter on the Pennines and the Alps, we find ourselves wafted off on a scientific expedition to Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic, climbing its great extinct volcano, Mount Beerenberg, with a party whose extreme youth prompted a kindly old lady on the ship going back to remark: “And have you dear boys been hiking?”

Finally we find Scott Russell joining (Eric) Shipton for surveying and botanical work in the Karakorams. This expedition was cut short by the War, but an amazing amount was accomplished even in half a year. Scott Russell makes us see the country and the people. We breathe the air of the icy passes and follow him back to civilization —so-called. “Read Mountain Prospect." (from American Alpine CLub).

Price: $35.00

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