Mont Blanc to Everest, by Gaston Rébuffat, with a preface by Wilfred Noyce. London: Thames and Hudson, 1956. 158 pages; 69 photogravures, including 8 in color. Price 35 s.

This is the English edition of Rébuffat’s Du Mont Blanc á L’Himalaya translated by Geoffrey Sutton from the French. The text is brief and the style difficult. It is by no means a continuous story, but rather, occasional incidents with an attempt to draw a word picture therefrom: why men climb, or the beauty to be found in mountains. These word sketches are rather too attenuated to produce fully their desired effect and are apt to leave the reader gasping for imagination. What the text lacks, however, is made up by the pictures. Except for eleven reproductions of nineteenth- century illustrations in the text, they are full page or even double page, bled to give the largest possible picture area. The subject matter covers everything from hut life, an early start, and bivouacs, to some of the finest Alpine, Himalayan, and Alaskan scenery. Those who enjoy interesting and beautiful pictures of the mountains will find this book a real delight.

K. A. Henderson