In 1965 R. R. (Bob) Jordan was posted to Nepal as the British Council’s English Language Officer. His four years working there gave him a lifelong interest in the Himalayan country, manifesting itself in a major collection of antiquarian and more recent books. Early Encounters with Nepal is a selection of extras and information taken from his collection and ranging from the first book about Nepal printed in English, An account of the Kingdom of Nepal by Colonial Kirkpatrick, published in 1811, through to Sir Edmund Hillary’s conquest of Everest in 1953. The book does not ser out to be a history of Nepal but illustrates the wide-ranging contacts with the country by the outside world during the years before it was open to tourists. These include missionaries, traders, soldiers, diplomats and officials, hunters and plant hunters, royalty, explorers and mountaineers.