Janet Adam Smith
Encyclopedia
Janet Adam Smith was a writer, editor, literary journalist and champion of Scottish literature. She was active from the 1930s through to the end of the century and noted for her elegant prose, her penetrating judgement, her independence of mind – and her deep love of mountains and mountaineering. Leonard Miall
wrote: “Biographer, mountaineer, critic, literary editor, textual scholar, comic versifier, visiting professor, hostess, anthologist, traveller – there seemed to be nothing at which Janet Adam Smith did not shine. And she shone with an intensity that made others glow in response.”
FBA (1856–1942), was a Biblical scholar, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis, at the Free Church College
in Glasgow, and then, from 1909 to 1935, Principal of Aberdeen University. Her mother was Lilian Adam Smith, daughter of Sir George Buchanan, FRS, in whose honour the Royal Society
’s Buchanan Medal
was created. Janet was brought up in a tradition of high thinking and simple but certainly not austere living.
In 1919 she went to Cheltenham Ladies’ College, and in 1923 went on to Somerville College, Oxford, where she read English, graduating in 1926.
, who was a poet, critic, editor, mathematician, and, like her, a passionate mountaineer. Roberts's anthologies of contemporary verse had already established him as, in T.S. Eliot's phrase, "expositor and interpreter of the poetry of his generation".
They lived in Newcastle upon Tyne
(where he taught at the Royal Grammar School
), then from 1939 in Penrith
(where the school was evacuated during the war). In 1945 the family moved to London, where Michael Roberts had become Principal of the College of St Mark and St John, in Chelsea. They had four children: Andrew Roberts, Professor of the History of Africa at the University of London
, b. 1937; Henrietta Dombey, Professor of Literacy in Primary Education at the University of Brighton
, b. 1939; Adam Roberts
, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, b. 1940; and John Roberts
, writer on energy issues and Middle East politics, b. 1947.
Michael Roberts died on 13 December 1948. Shortly after, the family moved to a house in the Notting Hill area of London, which remained her home until her death in 1999. In 1965, she married John Carleton, headmaster of Westminster School
. He died on 6 November 1974.
, Herbert Read
, Louis MacNeice
and Michael Roberts.
In 1935 she published Poems of Tomorrow, an anthology of poems from The Listener, and in 1936 succeeded Michael Roberts as chief reviewer of poetry in T.S. Eliot’s quarterly The Criterion
. Between 1936 and 1939 she wrote over a hundred reviews for London weeklies, of books by Scots writers or on Scottish subjects.
Finding herself with three small children in Penrith during the war, while Michael worked in London for the BBC’s European Service, she wrote Mountain Holidays (1946; reissued 1996), in which she recalled pre-war climbs in Scotland and the Alps.
In London from 1945 onwards, Janet Adam Smith continued to write and edit. To the series Britain in Pictures, she contributed Life among the Scots (1946) and Children's Illustrated Books (1948). Her short biography (1937) had already established her as an authority on Robert Louis Stevenson
. She now edited the correspondence between Stevenson and Henry James
(1948) and prepared a scholarly edition of Stevenson's collected poems (1950), both published by Rupert Hart-Davis
.
In 1948, left a widow with four young children to educate, she returned to a salaried position in journalism, becoming first assistant literary editor (1949–52), then literary editor (1952–60), of the New Statesman
, still the house magazine of the intellectual Left. It was sometimes described as a pantomime horse: its back half, over which she presided, was required reading even for many who disliked the paper's politics. She was a notably thorough literary editor. One of her successors, Karl Miller
, recalled that "Janet used to take the trouble of writing to people to tell them what was wrong with their articles". Miller saw her - and himself - as "Edinburgh reviewers, latter-day examples of an auld Scots element in literary journalism".
She still found time for her own work: almost 20 years after Michael Roberts had edited, at T.S. Eliot’s invitation, the classic anthology, the Faber Book of Modern Verse, she matched his achievement with the Faber Book of Children's Verse (1953), an enchanting and enduring collection. All the poems were tried out on an extended family – her own children, her nephews and nieces, and the children of friends, among whom were the son and daughter of the poet Kathleen Raine
. No poem was included, she said, that some child had not loved. She also edited Michael Roberts's Collected Poems (1958) and, with her friend and fellow climber Nea Morin
, translated from the French several mountaineering books, notably Maurice Herzog
's Annapurna (1952).
In 1961 and 1964 she was Virginia Gildersleeve Visiting Professor at Barnard College
, New York.
When, at the request of the Buchan family, she came to write her magisterial biography of John Buchan (1965), her profound understanding of Buchan's temperament and habit of mind owed much to their common cultural background of the democratic and independent-minded Free Church
.
Most of her papers are in the National Library of Scotland
, at Edinburgh.
from 1950 to 1985, a remarkable record, and president of the Royal Literary Fund
from 1976 to 1984.
in 1982 for services to Scottish literature.
to Braemar.
In the 1950s she organized many parties of friends and older children to the Alps to climb and to enjoy the pleasures of mobile holidays. She did a number of classic Alpine routes, including the Mer de Glace face of the Aiguille du Grépon
(1955) and the traverse of the Meije
(1958). She served as Vice-President of the Alpine Club
, 1978–80; and was elected to Honorary Membership of the Club in 1993.
Janet and Michael Roberts had built up a large collection of books on mountaineering, which (along with the collection of the Oxford University Mountaineering Club) provided a basis for establishment in December 1992 of the Oxford Mountaineering Library. This is situated in the Radcliffe Science Library
in Parks Road in Oxford. Its location within the Radcliffe Science Library (Level 3) is shown here.http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/science/libraries/layout
wrote:
“The critical study of Scottish literature owes much to Janet Adam Smith. … Ernest Mehew, the editor of the great Yale University edition of Stevenson's Letters, paid tribute to the ‘leading part’ she played ‘in the revival of critical interest in Stevenson's life and work at a time when he was largely ignored in academic circles’. He referred to the biography, her edition of Stevenson's correspondence with Henry James, and her two editions of Stevenson's poetry (1950 and 1971) – ‘a major work of scholarship which has not been superseded’.
“Stevenson was not alone in benefiting from her enthusiastic and discriminating advocacy. Two lectures on Sir Walter Scott and the Idea of Scotland, given at the University of Edinburgh in 1963, gave an impetus to the revival of academic interest in Scott. Her analysis of Waverley is unsurpassed.
“But her masterpiece was her biography of John Buchan. It is probably hard for people today to realise just how low Buchan's reputation stood in the early Sixties. He was dismissed as a mere entertainer with disreputable political and social views. Janet Adam Smith corrected misconceptions and restored him to his proper status as a serious writer and public figure. Everyone who has written subsequently on Buchan is in her debt. Like all her work, the biography was written with a beautiful and authoritative lucidity.
“Though she wrote no major work after Buchan, she remained an industrious literary journalist … She remained intellectually alert and eager to read new work into extreme old age. …
“Based in England throughout her adult life, she nevertheless remained committed to Scotland and Scottish literature. Karl Miller was right in seeing her as being an heir of the Edinburgh Reviewers, for she was one of the last representatives of the Scottish Enlightenment, marrying clear and bold thinking to generous feeling.”
Leonard Miall
Rowland Leonard Miall was a broadcaster and administrator at the BBC for 35 years, from 1939 to 1974. In retirement, he became a research historian, studying the history of broadcasting.-Early life:...
wrote: “Biographer, mountaineer, critic, literary editor, textual scholar, comic versifier, visiting professor, hostess, anthologist, traveller – there seemed to be nothing at which Janet Adam Smith did not shine. And she shone with an intensity that made others glow in response.”
Family background and education
She was born into the old Scots intellectual elite. Her father, Sir George Adam SmithGeorge Adam Smith
George Adam Smith , Scottish theologian, was born in Calcutta, where his father, George Smith, C.I.E., was then Principal of the Doveton College, a boys' school....
FBA (1856–1942), was a Biblical scholar, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament exegesis, at the Free Church College
Free Church College
The Free Church College is a theological seminary in Edinburgh connected to the Free Church of Scotland. It traces its origins back to the foundation of New College, Edinburgh at the time of the Disruption of 1843...
in Glasgow, and then, from 1909 to 1935, Principal of Aberdeen University. Her mother was Lilian Adam Smith, daughter of Sir George Buchanan, FRS, in whose honour the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
’s Buchanan Medal
Buchanan Medal
The Buchanan Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every year "in recognition of distinguished contribution to the medical sciences generally". The award was created in 1897 from a fund to the memory of London physician Sir George Buchanan . It was to be awarded once every five years, but since...
was created. Janet was brought up in a tradition of high thinking and simple but certainly not austere living.
In 1919 she went to Cheltenham Ladies’ College, and in 1923 went on to Somerville College, Oxford, where she read English, graduating in 1926.
Family life
In 1935 she married Michael RobertsMichael Roberts (writer)
Michael Roberts , originally named William Edward Roberts, was an English poet, writer, critic and broadcaster, who made his living as a teacher.-Life:...
, who was a poet, critic, editor, mathematician, and, like her, a passionate mountaineer. Roberts's anthologies of contemporary verse had already established him as, in T.S. Eliot's phrase, "expositor and interpreter of the poetry of his generation".
They lived in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
(where he taught at the Royal Grammar School
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle
Royal Grammar School Newcastle upon Tyne, known locally and often abbreviated as RGS, is a long-established co-educational, independent school in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It gained its Royal Charter under Queen Elizabeth I...
), then from 1939 in Penrith
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
(where the school was evacuated during the war). In 1945 the family moved to London, where Michael Roberts had become Principal of the College of St Mark and St John, in Chelsea. They had four children: Andrew Roberts, Professor of the History of Africa at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, b. 1937; Henrietta Dombey, Professor of Literacy in Primary Education at the University of Brighton
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is an English university of the United Kingdom, with a community of over 23,000 students and 2,600 staff based on campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. It has one of the best teaching quality ratings in the UK and a strong research record, factors which...
, b. 1939; Adam Roberts
Adam Roberts (scholar)
Sir Adam Roberts, KCMG, FBA is President of the British Academy , the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences...
, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, b. 1940; and John Roberts
John Roberts (writer)
John Roberts is a British writer specialising in the inter-relationship between energy issues and politics. He currently writes for Platts, a provider of energy and metals information and a source of benchmark price assessments in the physical energy markets.-Life:John Roberts is the youngest son...
, writer on energy issues and Middle East politics, b. 1947.
Michael Roberts died on 13 December 1948. Shortly after, the family moved to a house in the Notting Hill area of London, which remained her home until her death in 1999. In 1965, she married John Carleton, headmaster of Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
. He died on 6 November 1974.
Career and writing
She joined the BBC in 1928, and from 1930 to 1935 was Assistant Editor of The Listener. The High Presbyterian ethos of Lord Reith’s BBC was no doubt congenial, though she had a sense of humour and an awareness of social change that Reith lacked. As Assistant Editor, she dealt with articles on art, selected reviewers for literary books, and published new poetry, especially the work of W.H. Auden, Stephen SpenderStephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
, Herbert Read
Herbert Read
Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism, and was strongly influenced by proto-existentialist thinker Max Stirner....
, Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Frederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
and Michael Roberts.
In 1935 she published Poems of Tomorrow, an anthology of poems from The Listener, and in 1936 succeeded Michael Roberts as chief reviewer of poetry in T.S. Eliot’s quarterly The Criterion
The Criterion (magazine)
The Criterion was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939. The Criterion was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927-28 it was published monthly. It was created by the poet, dramatist, and literary critic T. S...
. Between 1936 and 1939 she wrote over a hundred reviews for London weeklies, of books by Scots writers or on Scottish subjects.
Finding herself with three small children in Penrith during the war, while Michael worked in London for the BBC’s European Service, she wrote Mountain Holidays (1946; reissued 1996), in which she recalled pre-war climbs in Scotland and the Alps.
In London from 1945 onwards, Janet Adam Smith continued to write and edit. To the series Britain in Pictures, she contributed Life among the Scots (1946) and Children's Illustrated Books (1948). Her short biography (1937) had already established her as an authority on Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
. She now edited the correspondence between Stevenson and Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
(1948) and prepared a scholarly edition of Stevenson's collected poems (1950), both published by Rupert Hart-Davis
Rupert Hart-Davis
Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis was an English publisher, editor and man of letters. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd...
.
In 1948, left a widow with four young children to educate, she returned to a salaried position in journalism, becoming first assistant literary editor (1949–52), then literary editor (1952–60), of the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, still the house magazine of the intellectual Left. It was sometimes described as a pantomime horse: its back half, over which she presided, was required reading even for many who disliked the paper's politics. She was a notably thorough literary editor. One of her successors, Karl Miller
Karl Miller
Karl Fergus Connor Miller FRSL is a British literary editor, critic and writer.He was educated at the Royal High School of Edinburgh and Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied English. He became literary editor of The Spectator and the New Statesman...
, recalled that "Janet used to take the trouble of writing to people to tell them what was wrong with their articles". Miller saw her - and himself - as "Edinburgh reviewers, latter-day examples of an auld Scots element in literary journalism".
She still found time for her own work: almost 20 years after Michael Roberts had edited, at T.S. Eliot’s invitation, the classic anthology, the Faber Book of Modern Verse, she matched his achievement with the Faber Book of Children's Verse (1953), an enchanting and enduring collection. All the poems were tried out on an extended family – her own children, her nephews and nieces, and the children of friends, among whom were the son and daughter of the poet Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Jessie Raine was a British poet, critic, and scholar writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Platonism and Neoplatonism, she was a founder member of the Temenos Academy.-Life:Raine was...
. No poem was included, she said, that some child had not loved. She also edited Michael Roberts's Collected Poems (1958) and, with her friend and fellow climber Nea Morin
Nea Morin
Nea Morin was a British rock climber and mountain climber. She climbed in the Alps in the 1920s, joined the Ladies Alpine Club, and met many climbers in the French Groupe de Haute Montagne. In 1928 she married Jean Morin and lived in Paris. She climbed often with other women and advocated the...
, translated from the French several mountaineering books, notably Maurice Herzog
Maurice Herzog
Maurice Herzog is a French mountaineer and sports administrator who was born in Lyon, France. He led the expedition that first climbed a peak over 8000m, Annapurna, in 1950, and reached the summit with Louis Lachenal. Upon his return, he wrote a best-selling book about the expedition...
's Annapurna (1952).
In 1961 and 1964 she was Virginia Gildersleeve Visiting Professor at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
, New York.
When, at the request of the Buchan family, she came to write her magisterial biography of John Buchan (1965), her profound understanding of Buchan's temperament and habit of mind owed much to their common cultural background of the democratic and independent-minded Free Church
United Free Church of Scotland
The United Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland...
.
Most of her papers are in the National Library of Scotland
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. It is based in a collection of buildings in Edinburgh city centre. The headquarters is on George IV Bridge, between the Old Town and the university quarter...
, at Edinburgh.
Public service
Imbued with the tradition of public service, she was a Trustee of the National Library of ScotlandNational Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. It is based in a collection of buildings in Edinburgh city centre. The headquarters is on George IV Bridge, between the Old Town and the university quarter...
from 1950 to 1985, a remarkable record, and president of the Royal Literary Fund
Royal Literary Fund
The Royal Literary Fund is a benevolent fund set up to help published British writers in financial difficulties. It was founded by Reverend David Williams in 1790 and has received bequests and donations, including royal patronage, ever since...
from 1976 to 1984.
Honours and distinctions
She received an honorary degree (Hon. LL.D.) from Aberdeen University in 1962 and was made an OBEOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1982 for services to Scottish literature.
Mountains and mountaineering
She was a keen and accomplished hill-walker and mountaineer. When working in London in her twenties, she would sometimes travel back to Aberdeen taking a night train to Aviemore, Kingussie or Blair Atholl, and then walking over the Cairngorm MountainsCairngorms
The Cairngorms are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain of the same name - Cairn Gorm.-Name:...
to Braemar.
In the 1950s she organized many parties of friends and older children to the Alps to climb and to enjoy the pleasures of mobile holidays. She did a number of classic Alpine routes, including the Mer de Glace face of the Aiguille du Grépon
Aiguille du Grépon
The Aiguille du Grépon is a mountain in the Mont Blanc Massif in Haute-Savoie, France....
(1955) and the traverse of the Meije
Meije
La Meije is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins range, located at the border of the Hautes-Alpes and Isère départements. It overlooks the nearby village of La Grave, a mountaineering centre and ski resort, well-known for its off-piste and extreme skiing possibilities.La Meije is composed of three...
(1958). She served as Vice-President of the Alpine Club
Alpine Club
The first Alpine Club, founded in London in 1857, was once described as:Today, Alpine clubs stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting the Alpine environment...
, 1978–80; and was elected to Honorary Membership of the Club in 1993.
Janet and Michael Roberts had built up a large collection of books on mountaineering, which (along with the collection of the Oxford University Mountaineering Club) provided a basis for establishment in December 1992 of the Oxford Mountaineering Library. This is situated in the Radcliffe Science Library
Radcliffe Science Library
The Radcliffe Science Library is the main teaching and research science library at the University of Oxford, England.Being officially part of the Bodleian Library, although with a completely separate building, the library holds the Legal Deposit material for the sciences and is thus entitled to...
in Parks Road in Oxford. Its location within the Radcliffe Science Library (Level 3) is shown here.http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/science/libraries/layout
Assessment of her literary contribution
In an obituary published in The Scotsman shortly after her death in September 1999, the Scottish novelist and journalist Allan MassieAllan Massie
Allan Massie is a well-known Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist.-Early life:Born in 1938 in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire...
wrote:
“The critical study of Scottish literature owes much to Janet Adam Smith. … Ernest Mehew, the editor of the great Yale University edition of Stevenson's Letters, paid tribute to the ‘leading part’ she played ‘in the revival of critical interest in Stevenson's life and work at a time when he was largely ignored in academic circles’. He referred to the biography, her edition of Stevenson's correspondence with Henry James, and her two editions of Stevenson's poetry (1950 and 1971) – ‘a major work of scholarship which has not been superseded’.
“Stevenson was not alone in benefiting from her enthusiastic and discriminating advocacy. Two lectures on Sir Walter Scott and the Idea of Scotland, given at the University of Edinburgh in 1963, gave an impetus to the revival of academic interest in Scott. Her analysis of Waverley is unsurpassed.
“But her masterpiece was her biography of John Buchan. It is probably hard for people today to realise just how low Buchan's reputation stood in the early Sixties. He was dismissed as a mere entertainer with disreputable political and social views. Janet Adam Smith corrected misconceptions and restored him to his proper status as a serious writer and public figure. Everyone who has written subsequently on Buchan is in her debt. Like all her work, the biography was written with a beautiful and authoritative lucidity.
“Though she wrote no major work after Buchan, she remained an industrious literary journalist … She remained intellectually alert and eager to read new work into extreme old age. …
“Based in England throughout her adult life, she nevertheless remained committed to Scotland and Scottish literature. Karl Miller was right in seeing her as being an heir of the Edinburgh Reviewers, for she was one of the last representatives of the Scottish Enlightenment, marrying clear and bold thinking to generous feeling.”
Books by Janet Adam Smith
- (ed.) Poems of Tomorrow: An Anthology of Contemporary Verse chosen from The Listener, Chatto & Windus, London, 1935;
- Robert Louis Stevenson, Duckworth, London, 1937;
- Mountain Holidays, Dent, London, 1946, 2nd edn., Ernest Press, Glasgow, 1996;
- Life Among the Scots, Collins, London, 1946;
- Children's Illustrated Books, Collins, London, 1948;
- (ed.) Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson: A Record of Friendship and Criticism, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1948;
- (ed.) Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1950; 2nd edn., 1971;
- (ed.) Faber Book of Children’s Verse, Faber and Faber, London, 1953;
- (ed.) Michael Roberts: Collected Poems, Faber and Faber, London, 1958;
- (ed.) The Looking Glass Book of Verse, Looking Glass Library, Random House, New York, 1959;
- John Buchan: A Biography, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1965;
- (ed.) The Living Stream: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Verse, Faber and Faber, London, 1969;
- John Buchan and his World, Thames and Hudson, London, 1979;
- An Autobiography, 1905–1926, with preface by Andrew D. Roberts, privately printed, London, 2005.
Translations by Janet Adam Smith
- (trans.) R. Frison-Roche, First on the Rope: A Novel, Methuen, London, 1949;
- (trans. jointly with Nea Morin) R. Frison-Roche, The Last Crevasse, Methuen, London, 1952;
- (trans. jointly with Nea Morin) Maurice Herzog, AnnapurnaAnnapurna (book)Annapurna: First Conquest of an 8000-meter Peak is a book by French climber Maurice Herzog, leader of the first expedition in history to summit and return from a 8000+ meter mountain, Annapurna in the Himalayas...
, Cape, London, 1952; - (trans. jointly with Nea Morin) Bernard Pierre, A Mountain Called Nun Kun, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1955;
- (trans. jointly with Nea Morin) G. Gervasutti, Gervasutti’s Climbs, Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1957.
See also
- Michael Roberts (writer)Michael Roberts (writer)Michael Roberts , originally named William Edward Roberts, was an English poet, writer, critic and broadcaster, who made his living as a teacher.-Life:...
- Alpine ClubAlpine ClubThe first Alpine Club, founded in London in 1857, was once described as:Today, Alpine clubs stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting the Alpine environment...
- The Listener
Other sources
- Nicolas Barker, obituary: "Janet Adam Smith: A Woman of Substance in Literature and Mountaineering", The Guardian, London, 14 September 1999.
- Allan Massie, obituary, The Scotsman, 14 September 1999.
- Leonard Miall, "Obituary: Janet Adam Smith", The Independent, London, 13 September 1999.
- John D. Haigh, entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition Oct. 2005.