Born on 27th April 1840 in London, died on 16th September 1911 in France, Edward Whymper was an English illustrator, mountain climber and world explorer. He is best known for his first ascent on the Matterhorn peak in 1865, where four members of his crew were killed while his expedition was descending back. The incident became legendary because of the controversy over the cut rope between the four victims and the three survived members of the expedition. The formal investigation did not reveal anything, while the incident was described in his book “Scrambles amongst the alps (1871) and later filmed on a movie.
As an explorer, Edward Whymper was known from his journeys to the Greenland in 1865 and 1872, South America in 1880 (exploration of altitude sickness in Ecuador, a study that brought him fame and prizes) and Canadian Rockies in 1900s. He wrote numerous books about these journeys.
As an illustrator, Whymper was coached to be a wood-engraver since his childhood. He started his artistic work in 1860 with his first journey in the Alps where he illustrated the Alpine drawings. Later, he produced illustrations for his own books.
Edward Whymper visited Aegean Macedonia in 1882, where he produced several illustrations depicting the daily live of Thessaloniki.
