Karakoram: The Ascent of Gasherbrum IV by Fosco Maraini (1961)

In translation from the Italian.

A formidable mountain indeed, Gasherbrum IV sits just under the 8,000-meter cutoff. According to Wikipedia (that font of reliable information), the mountain has only been summited five times, ever. One must simply take a look at a photo of the mountain's West Face, The "Shining Wall", to see both the challenge and the allure of the mountain.

This is an old-school expedition narrative-the cover photo shows not the mountain, but the train of porters laboring into the desert. The climbing team included some of Italy's best names of the day: Ricardo Cassin, Walter Bonatti, and Carlo Mauri lead the list. They made the first ascent of the peak in 1958. This book tells the story.

Hardcover with dust jacket in vinyl covering, some small tears in the jacket but overall very complete and looks sharp. 320 pages with more than 100 photographic plates, 55 in color, and a number of sketches and diagrams help to illustrate the text. Pages are colored blue on top. Maps on the inside of both covers, illustrating the journey. Overall a very handsome volume.