The Seven Mountain Travel Books

H. W. Tilman has been called "arguably the best expedition writer and best explorer-mountaineer" of the 20th century. This remarkable collection brings together Tilman's seven mountain-travel books in one volume, covering his adventures from 1919 to 1952.

The omnibus includes Snow on the Equator, The Ascent of Nanda Devi, When Men and Mountains Meet, Everest 1938, Two Mountains and a River, China to Chitral, and Nepal Himalaya. Tilman's famously understated approach to expedition planning—his belief that "any worthwhile expedition can be planned on the back of an envelope"—shines through all fifteen of his mountaineering and sailing books.

His writing is characterized by memorable understatement and dry wit. On reaching the summit of Nanda Devi, he remarked: "I believe we so far forgot ourselves as to shake hands on it." And after arduous and ultimately unsuccessful attempts on two peaks in Central Asia, followed by his arrest as a spy, he reflected: "as I turned to go down into Chitral, tired, lousy, and bereft of my diaries, I felt that the year had at any rate been rich in instruction."