Auctioneer Nick Burns with a first edition book on the 1933 Everest ascent by Hugh Ruttledge, simply called Everest 1933.
A book on an early attempt to conquer the world’s highest peak is among the highlights of an auction in Perth.
Entitled Everest 1933, the book by Hugh Ruttledge documents the fourth British attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1933.
Unfortunately, the attempt did not succeed but the expedition did attain 8,570 metres (28,116ft), a few hundred metres from the summit. Ruttledge was chosen to lead the expedition for his knowledge of the Himalayas and of the local people.
The volume contains a number of sepia prints documenting the expedition. One of the men rejected for this expedition was Tenzing Norgay, who made the first ascent of Everest in 1953 with Sir Edmund Hillary.
However, Ruttledge had the foresight to hire Tenzing to come with him to Everest in a 1936 expedition. In 1934, Ruttledge was awarded a Royal Geographical Society Gold Medal.
Consigned for sale from a local vendor, the book, with its original dust jacket, is expected to make between £100 and £200.
The auction starts at 10.30am on Thursday at Lindsay Burns and Company, King Street.
