Books About the Early Periods in Climbing?

I just read Hangdog Days by Smoot and absolutely loved it. I was wondering if anyone had any books that cover the early periods in history? Think pre-Valley Uprising. Downward Bound has a bit of info, and I've heard some of Beckey's books are pretty good, but I was wondering if there were any other suggestions (especially books that covered the development of the sport in Europe)

I can't remember the title, but Miriam Underhill's memoir/bio is a good one.  And by all means read Roper's Camp 4. It covers the early Valley Upr. years but is a fantastic read.

A V wrote:

Lord of the Abyss is a good one 

Hmmm...Thinking this one may not be completely about climbing

I'm in the middle of Conrad Cain's "Where the Clouds Can Go." Not the #1 book I'd recommend, but interesting in a curious way. Makes me want to take a summer in Europe trying to repeat the climbs he guided there.

Yankee Rock and Ice is a great read. While specific to the region, a the first segment of the book discusses / defines early climbing in the states (inception of the sport, what 'counted' as early climbing vs hiking, influences from European climbers). If you're interested in the early history of climbing (like pre WW - II), it would be a relevant read for sure.

For European climbing, I feel like you'd be able to find something good if you looked specifically for a book on a historic climbing area, eg The Alps

Bonnington, I Choose to Climb

Messner, The Seventh Grade

Pilgrims of the Vertical: Yosemite Rock Climbers and Nature at Risk was a nice commentary on the history of Yosemite climbing that might help put so many biographies in context.

Beyond the Vertical, Layton Kor

Climb! , Jeff Achey

Conquistadors of the Useless, Lionel Terray

Starlight and Storm, Gaston Rebuffat

Games Climbers Play, Ken Wilson 

Mirrors In The Cliffs, Jim Perrin

To Be Brave, Royal Robbins

Whymper, Washburn, Stuck, Browne, Shipton, Tillman, King, Bullock, Bates, Young, Ruttledge, ...

I really enjoyed this book, great history and his stoke is contagious. 

The last of his kind by David roberts talks about brad Washburns exploration of AK (and a bit in Europe)in the early 1900’s. Good book

Heinrich Harrer "The White Spider" is a riveting read. First ascent of the North Face of the Eiger.

There are so many choices—climbing has one of the largest ‘bibliographies’ of any ‘sporting’ activity. Are you primarily interested in a ‘global’ overview or a more ‘local’ or regional focus?

I’ll mention a few of my favorites. Many of these are fairly ‘old’ and often out of print, but can still be found on Amazon, eBay. or places like Chessler Books.

I see that you have a Calgary ‘address’ , so I’ll start with Pushing the Limits by Chic Scott—an encyclopedic overview of Canadian climbing history. Climbing in North America by Chris Jones is a bit older, but still a great synopsis for the continent up through the 70s.

For a more wide/ranging background, the first part of Doug Scott’s Big Wall Climbing provides a brief but good overview of the history of climbing, not just the walls, including ‘pocket biographies’ of many of the leading practitioners.

As others have mentioned, there are a number of excellent regional or local histories in the US, such as Climb for Colorado, Yankee Rock and Ice for the Northeast, and Camp 4 ( and many others) for Yosemite. There is an entire library of books on British climbing history including Welsh Rock and Lakes Rock by Trevor Jones and Peak Rock. I’m sure there are similar books for other countries in the local languages. There are also books about the histories of specific mountains or climbs, with The White Spider about the North Face of the Eiger being perhaps the  most classic. The Black Cliff about the Welsh cliff Clogwyn D’Arddu is very obscure, but a personal favorite.

And then there are the biographies and autobiographies—too many to list, though some are mentioned in earlier posts.

Good reading!!!!

Its not a book, but there is an individual that is creating a documentary about the Iowa Mountaineers.  He is archiving all the photos, videos and logs the club created from the late 30's to the 90's.  At it's it peak it had 6,000 members.

Second Vote for Joe Brow’s The Hardy Years. Plus:

WH Murray Mountaineering in Scotland. 

Climbing in North America by Chris Jones

DGoguenwrote:

Heinrich Harrer "The White Spider" is a riveting read. First ascent of the North Face of the Eiger.

Yes, This plus Seven Years in Tibet. 

Anything by Rebuffat.

No Picnic on Mount Kenya is also terrific.  

I don’t know how ‘early’ in climbing history OP is interested in, but there are 2 fairly recent biographies that I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread. Both are by David Smart, and while both are focused on their protagonists, they also contain considerable context of their eras, both of which are lesser known but still very important periods in the history of climbing, especially rock climbing.

Paul Preuss, Lord of the Abyss, is particularly interesting in its description of rock climbing development  in Germany and Austria in the years before the First World War. Emilio Comici , Angel of the Dolomites, covers Italian climbing ( and society) in the period shortly after that war. Both are well worth reading.

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Wall-Climbing-Doug-Scott/dp/B001KURCCI

Really good history section covering the dolomites and the eastern alps, when that region was the world's crucible for  big, cutting-edge climbs.