Rocky Mountains, Frank S. Smythe (1948, First Edition)

A beautiful first edition of Rocky Mountains by mountaineer, writer and photographer Frank S. Smythe, published in 1948.

Bound in a rich claret cloth with gilt lettering, this is a book that feels as timeless as the landscapes it holds. Inside are Smythe’s own photographs, forty-eight monochrome plates and sixteen early colour images, capturing the stillness, scale and rhythm of the Canadian Rockies in a way that feels slow, considered and deeply atmospheric.

This copy carries a particularly lovely sense of history. It is inscribed and dated November 1965, and bears a previous owner’s label from Anglesey, North Wales, a small but meaningful detail that speaks to a life lived with books, travel and quiet admiration for wild places.

A book for photographers, walkers, mountain dreamers and anyone drawn to wide skies and long views. Beautiful left open on a coffee table, or returned to again and again on quieter days.

First published 1948. Printed in Great Britain.