Books about Whymper from Amazon.com

When he first saw the Alps in 1860, Edward Whymper was a 20-year-old English wood engraver whose dream was to become an arctic explorer Ambitious and hungry for adventure, he fell in love with the challenge the Alps presented and set out to conquer them peak by peak. Whymper made quick work of the challenge, racking up dozens of first ascents and acquiring a reputation as one of the best in the nascent field of mountaineering. But on the Matterhorn, considered to be mountaineering’s Holy Grail at the time, Whymper met with failure again and again. On his eighth attempted ascent he finally succeeded, becoming the first man to reach its magnificent peak. The victory came at a heavy cost, however, as Whymper watched four of his companions fall to their deaths on the descent. It was a tragedy that would cast a shadow over the remainder of his life.

Published in 1871, Scrambles Amongst the Alps is Whymper’s own story of his nine years spent climbing in the Alps. One of the first books devoted to the sheer thrill of mountaineering, it is a breathtaking account of the triumph of man over mountain in a time before thermal clothing, nylon ropes, global positioning systems, and air rescues. It also offers Whymper’s controversial story of the tragedy on the Matterhorn. One of the best adventure books of all time, Scrambles Amongst the Alps is an essential classic of climbing literature by one of mountaineering’s most legendary figures.

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CONTENTS Frontispiece-JOHN BUNYA N f rom Robert Whites Pencil Drawing Cracherode Collection, British Museum PAGE I. EARLYC HURCHLI FE IN BEDFORDSHIR . E I IV. SPIRITUACL ONFLICT . 5 VI. FIVE YEARS O F BEDFORDLI FE 1655-1660 . 93 VII. HARLINGTOHNO USE A ND THE CHAPEL O F HERNE . 126 VIII. TWELV YE E A RS IN BEDFORGDA OL . 5 5 IX. THEC HURCH IN THE STORM . . 190 X. THRE Y E E ARS O F LIBERTY 1 672-1675 . . 216 vii EARLY CHURCH LIFE IN BEDFORDSHIRE JOHN BU NYANb, o rn in the English Midlands, may be taken as in some sense a characteristic representative of the region that gave him birth. For the tract of country between the Trent and the Bedfordshire Ouse, which from its northern half gave the Pilgrim Fathers to New England, furnished from its fens and fields in the south n succession of men of his own sturdy independence of thought, and in strong sympathy with his own Puritan faith. In the development of even the most original genius, the environment counts for much it may help us, t11erefore to a truer estimate of the man if we first briefly recall the spiritual antecedents of the county in which lie was born ancl in which his life was spent. When the Reformation broke in upon the old ecclesiastical system of England, Bedfordshire seems to have been more than usually receptive of the new ideas tllen rising over Europe. Not that the wllole county, any more than other counties, was prepared to become Protestant at a stroke. Here, as elsewhere, many Englisllmen, after their manner, were inclined to standin the ways, and see and ask for the old paths. Leading families, like the Rlordaunts of Turvey, remained firm in their allegiance to the ancient faith, and turned their llouses into hiding-places for its bishops and priests during the hard days of Elizabeth and James....
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