Edited By ALEX. B. W. KENNEDY, LL.D., F.R.S.
MEMBER OF THE ALPINE CLUB
Moore's privately printed Journal of 1864 has long been one of the rarest and most coveted books of Alpine adventure. The Author was a climber of marvellous energy, and climbed, for the pure pleasure of climbing, in days when the Alps were not 'hung in chains,' and when virgin peaks and passes still remained in comparative plenty. Few of his contemporaries had so wide a knowledge of the mountains as he had, and few were able to make so many first ascents; while few, it may be said without offence, spoke and wrote of their doings in so simple, genial, and unaffected a fashion.
'The writer succeeds in bringing the actual conditions of the climb home to the reader in a manner calculated at times almost to take his breath away. He makes one believe that it would be possible to go and repeat the exact route merely from his description. As we follow him over the ice-wall and along the arêtes of the Ecrins, through the hurricanes on the Dom, across the awful barrier of the Moming Pass, and up the hanging glaciers of the Brenva, we feel as if we were ourselves standing amid the snows and rocks of the Alpine giants as we sit in our arm-chair waiting till the return of a summer holiday sends us once again to the happy hunting ground.'—Spectator.
'The work will prove not only a monument to the memory of a man of rare culture, of great public capacity, and of unusual mountaineering experience, but also a notable addition to permanent Alpine literature.'—Birmingham Post.
'The keynote of the whole book is its frank, hearty, straightforward naturalness. It breathes the very air of the mountains, and is instinct in every page with the spirit of the true mountaineer.'—Birmingham Gazette.
'Contains a better collection of Alpine plates than we have ever before seen brought together in a book. The volume would be worth buying for the plates alone. '—Times.
'One of the most vivid and fascinating books of Alpine travel which has ever been written.'—Alpine Journal.
'Moore's book will be classed with the very best in its department of literature with the works of Mummery and Mr. Whymper and Mr. Leslie Stephen.' —Glasgow Herald.
'Mr. Moore was an ardent and successful mountain climber,' with a remarkable topographical faculty and a retentive and accurate memory. He wrote in an easy style with much descriptive power and quiet humour.'—Standard.