A runaway bestseller on its first English publication (in hardback, publ. by Rupert Hart-Davis, Ltd, 1953), this copy is the first paperback edition of 1956. Described by The Times as 'Among the few great travel stories of our own times', it tells the story of Austrian mountaineer and Olympic skiing champion Heinrich Harrer, who was climbing in the Himalayas when caught by the outbreak of war. After escaping from internment by the British in India, he crossed the Himalayas into Tibet, eventually reaching the Forbidden City of Llasa, where he stayed on for several years after the end of the war, becoming the friend and tutor of the young Dalai Lama.
'Seven Years in Tibet' has been filmed twice: firstly by Seven League Productions in the 1950s soon after the book's publication, and then in 1997 with Brad Pitt in the lead role, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud with music by John Williams. Neither the book nor the films mention that Harrer had been a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer before the war.
This edition has an Introduction by Peter Fleming – adventurer, journalist and travel writer (who was also the elder brother of James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, and married to actress Celia Johnson).