Classic Walks of the World

Sparkford, Near Yeovil, Somerset, England: The Oxford Illustrated Press, 1985. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good/Good. 160 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Appendix. Ex-library with the usual library markings. DJ is in a plastic sleeve affixed to the boards. Walt Unsworth was for many years editor of Climber magazine. In the late 1970s he found he was receiving a large number of articles about walking and he suggested to the publisher Holmes McDougall that the time was right to launch a magazine for walkers. The idea was accepted and in March 1978 the first issue of Great Outdoors appeared. Walt was originally a science teacher but in the 1980s he and his wife Dorothy moved to Milnthorpe, just outside the Lake District, so that he could pursue his career as a writer and publisher. Walt wrote over 20 books including definitive studies of climbing on both Mont Blanc and Everest and a ground breaking Encyclopedia of Mountaineering. Perceiving a gap in the guidebook market, Walt and Dorothy along with Brian and Aileen Evans had already launched Cicerone Press in 1969. It was an immediate success and their lists have steadily expanded to include guides to walking and climbing in every part of the world. Under a sometimes apparently gruff exterior Walt - who was also no mean climber himself - was a kindly man always willing to give advice to others. He was a founder member of the Guild of Outdoor Writers and Photographers and held many other posts in the outdoor world. Ever since the days f William Wordsworth walking tours have been a popular way of admiring mountain scenery. In the nineteenth century the spread of railways and the Alpine club hit Europe. Nowadays, the advent of widebodied jets has extended that playground to include all the great mountain ranges of the world. In Classic Walks of the World Walt Unsworth, one of Britain's best-known writers on the mountain scene, has collaborated with a number of colleagues in describing seventeen great walks of the worked from Britain's Pennine Way to New Zealand's Milford Track. The Himalayas, the Andes, the Alps, The Pyrenees, Greece, Tanzania, Japan and the USA are all represented.