The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It is the oldest

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

journal in the world.

History

The journal was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

in London, with Hereford Brooke George as its first editor. It was a replacement for ''Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers'', which had been issued in two series: in 1858 (with John Ball as editor), and 1862 (in two volumes, with Edward Shirley Kennedy as editor). The journal covers all aspects of mountains and mountaineering, including expeditions, adventure, art, literature, geography, history, geology, medicine, ethics and the mountain environment, and the history of mountain exploration, from early ascents in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, exploration of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

and the succession of attempts on

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

, to present-day exploits.

Online access

Journal volumes since 1926 (bar the current issue) are freely available online. Digital scans of earlier volumes of the ''Alpine Journal'' from 1863 to 1929 have been made by academic libraries and are available online.

Notable editors

The following people have edited the journal: *

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, mountaineer, and an Ethical Culture, Ethical movement activist. He was also the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the ...

(1868–1872) * Douglas Freshfield (1872–1880) * Arthur John Butler (1890–1893) A. T. Quiller-Couch, revised by Nilanjana Banerji, " Butler, Arthur John (1844–1910)", in ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2007) * George Yeld (1896–1926) * John Percy Farrar (1920–1926, co-editor) * Edward Lisle Strutt (1927–1937) * T. Graham Brown (1949–1953) * Johanna Merz (1992–1998) * Ed Douglas (1999–2023)

References

External links

* including an online archive of back issues 1863 to 2021, with ''Peaks Passes and Glacier''s
Alpine Journal back issues 1863 to 1929
online at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Alpine Journal back issues 1863 to 2002
full text or limited search, online at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

{{Authority control 1863 establishments in the United Kingdom Alpine Club (UK) Annual magazines published in the United Kingdom Sports magazines published in the United Kingdom Climbing and mountaineering magazines and journals English-language magazines Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1863