Joydeep Sircar (born 1947) is a mountaineer and mountain historian. In 1979, he published his Himalayan Handbook, an index of all the-then named peaks of 6096 meters (20000 feet) and above in Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent, giving chronological entries of expeditions up to 1975 to each peak with a brief summary of results and references to expedition reports, after a decade of solitary research. He was inspired in this formidable undertaking by the pronouncement of the late Soli S. Mehta, Hony. Local Secretary of The Himalayan Club, that the task had never been attempted before and was well-nigh impossible. This book, introduced by the famous British mountaineer-explorer J. O. M. Roberts, one of Sircar's idols, was the first one of its kind. Printed in 500 copies only, it received