The following is Michael Chessler's list of the best mountaineering books, based on several different factors including quality of the writing, importance of the climbs, reputation of the author, quality of the photos or printing, influence on other climbers, etc.
The list was compiled as a popularity contest (most of these are books that get most frequently requested at Chessler Books) and by asking several well-read customers for their favorites.
Barker. The Last Blue Mountain
Bass. Seven Summits
Bates. Five Miles High
Bauer. Himalayan Challenge
Beckey. Challenge of the North Cascades
Benuzzi. No Picnic on Mount Kenya
Blum. Annapurna: A Woman's Place
Boardman. The Shining Mountain
Bonatti. On The Heights
Bonington. Annapurna South Face
Bowman. The Ascent of Rum Doodle
Brown. The Hard Years
Bruce. Twenty Years in the Himalaya
Buhl. Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage
Burdsall. Men Against The Clouds
Chouinard. Climbing Ice
Clinch. A Walk in the Sky
Coleman. Canadian Rockies, New and Old Trails
Collie. Climbing on the Himalaya
Cunningham & Abney. The Pioneers of the Alps
Davidson. Minus 148
Diemberger. Summits and Secrets
Du Faur. The Conquest of Mount Cook
Dunn. The Shameless Diary of an Explorer
Eckenstein. Karakoram and Kashmir
Ferlet. Aconcagua South Face
Filippi. Karakoram and Western Himalaya
Fitzgerald. The Highest Andes
Forbes. Travels Through the Alps of Savoy
Freshfield. The Exploration of the Caucasus
Gillman. Everest
Gillman. Eiger Direct or Direttissima
Greig. Summit Fever
Harding. Downward Bound
Harper. Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand
Harrer. The White Spider
Hauser. White Mountain and Tawny Plain
Heckel. Climbing in the Caucasus
Heim & Gansser. The Throne of the Gods
Herzog. Annapurna
Hillary. From the Ocean to The Sky
Hornbein. Everest The West Ridge
Houston & Bates. K2 The Savage Mountain
Jones. Climbing in North America
King. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada
Kinzl & Schneider. Cordillera Huayhuash
Kinzl & Schneider. Cordillera Blanca
Klucker. The Adventures of An Alpine Guide
Krakauer. Into Thin Air
Kugy. Alpine Pilgrimage
Languepin. To Kiss High Heaven
Lukan. The Alps and Alpinism
MacInnes. Climb to the Lost World
Manning. Mountaineering, The Freedom of the Hills
Maraini. Karakoram
McLewin. In Monte Viso's Horizon
Messner. All Fourteen Eight-Thousanders
Messner. Solo Nanga Parbat
Miller & Manning. The North Cascades
Moravec. The Big Book of Mountaineering
Muir. The Mountains of California
Muir. My First Summer in the Sierra
Mummery. My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus
Murray. Mountaineering in Scotland
Murray. The Scottish Himalayan Expedition
Newby. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
Norman-Neruda. The Climbs of Norman-Neruda
Norton. The Fight For Everest 1924
Noyce. Climbing the Fishes Tail
Noyce. South Col
Patey. One Man's Mountains
Pause. Extreme Alpine Rock
Pilley. Climbing Days
Radcliffe. Land of Mountains: New Zealand
Rebuffat. Mont Blanc: The 100 Finest Routes
Rebuffat. Starlight and Storm
Ridgeway. The Last Step
Roberts. The Mountain of My Fear
Roper & Steck. Fifty Classic Climbs of North America
Rowell. In The Throne Room of the Mountain Gods
Rowell. The Vertical World of Yosemite
Salter. Solo Faces
Sayre. Four Against Everest
Scott. Big Wall Climbing
Shipton. Blank on the Map
Shipton. Nanda Devi
Simpson. Touching the Void
Smythe. Camp Six
Smythe. Climbs and Ski Runs
Steinitzer. Der Alpinismus in Bildern
Stephen. The Playground of Europe
Stuck. The Ascent of Denali
Tasker. The Savage Arena
Terray. Conquistadors of the Useless
Thorington. The Glittering Mountains of Canada
Tilman. The Ascent of Nanda Devi
Tilman. Snow on the Equator
Waller. The Everlasting Hills
Whymper. Scrambles Amongst The Alps
Whymper. Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator
Wills. Wanderings Among the High Alps
Yoshizawa. Mountaineering Maps of the World. 2 Vols
Young. Mountaincraft
Criteria include "classics", importance to an area's history, best efforts from homegrown writers, humor, early use of the Yosemite Decimal System, topo charts or other innovation, controversy, or if they made some other mark on guidebook history.
Atkeson. Northwest Heritage: The Cascade Range
Bini. Cervino e le sue Guide
Bonatti. Magic of Mont Blanc
Bonatti. Patagonia
Bonington. Chris Bonington Mountaineer
Burkhardt. Alp-Alpes-Alpen
Buscaini. Patagonia: Dreamland for Climbers and Tourists
Dumler. The High Mountains of the Alps
Edlinger. Rock Games
Fujita. Karakoram
Fujita. Himalaya
Fujita. The Alps
Garden. Bugaboos
Garden. Selkirks
Kazami. Premier Peaks of the World
Kruckenhauser. Snow Canvas
Morse. Mountains of Canada
Morse. Canada The Mountains
Ohmori. Over the Himalaya
Perren. Matterhorn
Reader. Kilimanjaro
Reader. Mt Kenya
Schmithals. Die Alpen, The Alps
Scott. Himalayan Climber
Shirahata. Nepal Himalaya
Shirahata. Karakoram
Shirahata. The Alps
Sicouri. Forbidden Mountains
Uchida. The Himalayas: The 14 Leading Peaks and other Giants
Washburn. Mt McKinley: The Conquest of Denali
Alpine Club. Catalogue of the Library
Arctic Bibliography
Baume. Sivalaya
Bent. A Bibliography of the White Mountains
Brown. The First Ascent of Mont Blanc
Coolidge. Swiss Travel and Swiss Guide-Books
Kimes. John Muir: A Reading Bibliography
Mathews. Annals of Mont Blanc
Meckly. Mont Blanc The Early Years
Neate. Mountaineering Literature
Neate. Mountaineering and Its Literature
Neate. Mountaineering in the Andes
Neate. High Asia
Salkeld & Boyle. Climbing Mount Everest
Spence. Antarctic Miscellany
Unsworth. Everest
Yakushi. Catalog of the Himalayan Literature
American Alpine Journal
Alpine Journal
Ascent
Canadian Alpine Journal
Climbing Magazine
Himalayan Journal
Mountain World 1946-1969
Mountain Magazine
Rock and Ice Magazine
Vulgarian Digest [Set the tone for underground books and magazines]