The Conquest of Mount Cook and Other Climbs. An Account of Four Seasons' Mountaineering on the Southern Alps of New Zealand [Fred B. Butler's copy]

Illustrated with black and white plates, some of which are mounted, large thick octavo, pp xvi, 250, top edge gilt, other edges uncut, rather weak internally, the hinge at page 176/177 very weak indeed, and some other hinges becoming so, brown cloth slightly rubbed, lower cover very slightly marked, rear corners slightly bruised. [With the stamp of Fred B. Butler on the front endpaper, and also an armorial bookplate. He had a keen sense of local history and over a span of 50 years gathered a collection of archives, manuscripts, photographs and artefacts, most of which related to Taranaki history. He wrote articles for the local newspapers from 1927 to 1947, using two nom de plumes 'Humane' and also 'Egmont'. ]. Emmeline Freda Du Faur (1882 - 1935) was an Australian mountaineer, credited as the first woman to climb New Zealand's tallest mountain, After her climb to the summit of Mount Cook in 1910, she is quoted as stating: "I was the first unmarried woman to climb in New Zealand, and in consequence I received all the hard knocks until one day when I awoke more or less famous in the mountaineering world, after which I could and did do exactly as seemed to me best".[1] Following her notoriety, she would dispense with a chaperone but retain her, now customary, climbing attire of a skirt to just below the knee over knickerbockers and long puttees. It pleased her that her attire afforded an element of femininity to upset critics and challenge existing stereotypes of physically active women.].…