'Saturday 25th December.
?Scrambles among the Alps? (Whymper)
Trying to get the proper atmosphere in a snow-less Christmas. Certainly, if any book could give it, it is this one.
Today has been rather a bore. The usual heavyweight dinner made everybody too somnolent to allow of any attempt at enjoyment. So we slept and read and ate and ? finally ? slept.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Gerald Moore Print: Book
'But instead of learning to sail, I read Edward Whymper's "Travels among the Great Andes of the Equator". The author is better known for his "Scrambles among the Alps", but this came later in my education.[...] I have not read the book again but I still have the most vivid impressions of it: the climbing of Chimborazo [...] the night spent on Cotopaxi [...]'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Eric Shipton Print: Book
'C.I. Evans read Geoffrey Young's [?] poem 'Mountain Playmates' & Mary Hayward read Leslie Stephen's account of the first ascent of the Rothorn. R.B. Graham circulated snapshots illustrating this reading & his own climb of the same mountain. After supper R.B. Graham gave a general chat on Mountaineering with views. A passage by Whymper on accidents was summarised by A. Rawlings who then read Whymper's account of an extraordinary accident he himself sustained. To conclude the Secretary read a parody of Wadsworth [Wordsworth?] 'We are Seven' composed by H.m. Wallis on climbing at Arolla'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Alfred Rawlings Print: Book
'Wrote and read till lunch. Merry lunch, we 3 after which I read Whymper's book and account of the 1st ascension of the Ecrins. Prince Louis of Orleans passed with Faure and went up to the refuge. I left at 4.45 and got to the [Refuge] Carrelet at 5.50.'
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: Gertrude Bell Print: Book
'Dined on soup and chicken at 5. Read Whymper's book. Cold and mist all round. Decide on an easy day tomorrow as I rather feel the effects of the first day's gymnastics. Most successful and pleasant day, the only drawback being the extreme cold of the ascent [of the Aiguille du Géant].'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Gertrude Bell Print: Book
'You may as well say, which is a truth, that I do read bi[o]graphy and memoirs.
History has a fascination for me. Naval, military, political'. [The following was deleted
by Conrad in proof]. 'For instance, favorite books of his are Wallace's "Malay
Archipelago," Darwin's "Voyage of a Naturalist," Whymper's "High Andes", the sea
yarns of Cooper and Marryat and the novels of Dickens.'
Century: 1850-1899 / 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Conrad Print: Book
