I guess this book was produced to support the National Mountaineering Exhibition at Rheged, near Penrith (there’s no price on it and no ISBN), and it came free when I renewed my subscription to the BMC! It’s a soft-back coffee-table climbing book, and gives you just what it says in the title. It covers the development of the home scene, the Alps from the heroic era to the present day, and British involvement in the Greater Ranges including, of course, Everest. There are four short sections on the evolution of climbing equipment too. It’s a useful quick reference – a sort of who’s who and who-did-what of British climbing.