A Thing of (delayed) Beauty

"Then care- and rope-free, we may wander hither and thither; with the collective wisdom of the ages safely locked up and trodden under our feet, with the rival auspices of Cambridge creeds and cults opening out in vistas of unreal transparency about us and illuminated only from below,and know our own heads and dreams to be set high above them among the stars."

Considering it's not a mighty tome, there seems to have been an inordinate number of bugs and problems resulting in the tardy appearance of the 2nd Edition of The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity. But then, it's been gone 79 years so an extra month is probably no great shakes. And then, it arrived the day before Oleander moved to a land sans internet for two weeks so I'm only able to tell you of it now.

Including and supplementing the information from two chapters in the previous guide, the 1930 second edition is otherwise completely rewritten and incorporates new routes, quotes, illustrations and a new format.

Although barely granted publication permission by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, the authors of the 2nd edtion rightly noted that 'The conquest of the Great Gate in November 1927 marked a new epoch;' and that 'so many fresh climbs have been discovered in the subsequent three years, that a fuller edition of the old guide was felt to be desirable'.

Available from the Oleander website now.

Student prank ends in police dog attack and hospital

"THE Night Climbers of Cambridge are famous for their clandestine forays up university colleges – but one intrepid undergraduate’s adventure ended in a bite from a police dog..."

From today's Cambridge Evening News. I'm not sure calling the police was the most expedient of moves...

By the way - the 2nd edition (1930) of The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity arrived (eventually) from the printers yesterday and is available from Oleander's site. I apologise in advance for any delay in delivery as I'm moving house/office today and tomorrow but I I'll definitely get them out to you on Monday.

Night Climbers to the Four

This week saw a fair amount of activity by Cambridge's favourite secret club. Santa hats have been appearing on various parts of the University's architecture - most notably on all four pinnacles of King's College Chapel as pictured (pic thanks to avaragado, click through for more and follow him on Twitter.) The Santa hat deluge is a pretty regular occurrence at this time of year; followers of this column will know that the Night Climbers have been a part of Cambridge subculture for over a hundred years definitely, and probably a lot longer (on Gunning's Balcony, St John's College, there's an inscription carved by pen-knife: PETRUS GUNNING ELIENSIS, HUJUS COLL : ALUMNUS Feb: 19th, 1734).

Those interested can read a free pdf on the history of Night Climbing below (and on the Oleander website.)

The History of Night Climbing in Cambridge

Anyone wanting to know the history of this exclusive sport in Cambridge and how and when all the various different books and editions of the night climbing titles came to be is highly recommended to read Richard Williams' piece:


Richard was the author of the 3rd edition of The Night-Climber's Guide to Trinity in 1960 - the title responsible for the resurgence of enthusiasm the sport experienced in that decade. He recently gave a talk on the subject to the Cambridge Society in Melbourne, where he has lived for many years, and this is the transcript of that presentation. His edition of the Guide is being re-published by Oleander in the new year.

The Holy Grail is here!

The original night-climbing text is now in stock. The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity, written in 1900 by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young and the inspiration for Whipplesnaith's Night Climbers of Cambridge is here, available once more. We're very excited to see it - eventually - back in print!!

Check out a review written on publication in 1900 over here.

Read more about it below and get your own copy here.

For the climber who "seeks new sensations on the artificial erections of man."

It's taken a while but we're within a couple of weeks of unleashing the Holy Grail of night climbing. This is the first recognised literature concerning this elite sport and is the first instalment of the exclusive literary genre documenting it. There are less than 10 copies left in the world of this 109 year-old treasure, and I'm delighted to bring this stegophilic standard-bearer back to life. Amazingly I've found a contemporary review:

'...the stegophilist will find a guide-book so lucid and complete as to compare with such classics as Ball's Alpine Guide and Haskett-Smith's Climbing in the British Isles. - Full contemporary review

We've worked from Geoffrey Winthrop-Young's original copy - now held in the Wren Library at Trinity:


But have created a new cover of course:


Many will notice that the picture used comes from Whipplesnaith. There are three editions of the Trinity guide - this one, a 2nd edition in 1930 and a final one in 1960. There was also a Roof-Climber's Guide to St John's. Each of these is being reproduced by Oleander in the near future and each sports a similar livery and Whipplesnaith pic. I think they look great - and hopefully so will you.

This reproduction contains the full text (including corrections by GW-Y) and two appendices of transcribed notes by the author; one set from 1902 and the other from 1948. Both shed amusing and informative light on the creation of the book, little known facts (the truth about Byron climbing the Wren Library for example) and details of his fellow climbers at the time. Read more about it over at Oleander.

Another View

Check out this stencil image inspired by a Night Climbers shot -


it's from Joe Iurato and you can see more of his great work over at his website. I think you'll love it!