HILLARY EDMUND: (1919-2008) New Zealand Mountaineer, the first man, with Tenzing Norgay, to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1953.

A superb vintage signed and inscribed 8 x 10 photograph by Hillary, a silver gelatin print depicting the mountaineer in a rugged and windswept head and shoulders pose wearing a thick anorak, the collars turned up to protect his neck. Photograph by Karsh of Ottawa and bearing his credit stamp to the verso. Signed ('E. P. Hillary') in dark fountain pen ink to the image. Signed photographs of Hillary of this quality are rare and desirable. About EX

Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) Armenian-Canadian Photographer, one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century. Karsh took the present image of Hillary in 1960.

Hillary, alongside Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, became the first confirmed climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29th May 1953. The New Zealander had become interested in mountaineering while in secondary school and had made his first major climb in 1939. As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition Hillary reached the South Pole overland in 1958 and subsequently reached the North Pole, making him the first person to reach both poles and summit Everest. Hillary and Tenzing were part of the ninth British expedition to Mount Everest, led by John Hunt, and following his ascent of Everest, Hillary devoted most of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Time magazine named Hillary one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.