Details
SAUSSURE, HORACE BÉNEDICT DE. Voyayes dans les Alpes, précédes d'un essai sur l'histoire naturelle des environs de Geneve. Neuchatel, 1779-96. 4 vols., 4to, 249 x 195 mm. (9 13/16 x 7¾ in.), contemporary mottled calf, spine elaborately gilt, some rubbing, minor wear to a few spine ends; one folding map (of Mont Blanc) torn and tape repaired. FIRST EDITION, 2 engraved folding maps and 21 engraved plates (numerous folding). Brunet V,150; Graesse VI,277.
In spite of the title the work covers (as well as the Alps) the Jura, the Vosges, the Swiss, German, Italian and Sicilian mountains and the extinct volcanoes of France and the borders of the Rhine. Saussure crossed the Alps fourteen different times by eight different routes and, in 1787, was the third person to climb Mont Blanc. His scientific observations were primarily concerned with minerals and rocks, their formation, distribution etc., his chief interest being in granite which he considered the basis of all other rocks. Unlike most of his contemporaries he was content to record isolated observations without expanding these into a scientific system. In 1798 Saussure was made professor of the natural history school of Léman. He was also a physician, professor of philosophy at Geneva from 1762-86 and creator of Society of Arts at Geneva.
Provenance: Philippe de Vimorin, bookplate. (4)
In spite of the title the work covers (as well as the Alps) the Jura, the Vosges, the Swiss, German, Italian and Sicilian mountains and the extinct volcanoes of France and the borders of the Rhine. Saussure crossed the Alps fourteen different times by eight different routes and, in 1787, was the third person to climb Mont Blanc. His scientific observations were primarily concerned with minerals and rocks, their formation, distribution etc., his chief interest being in granite which he considered the basis of all other rocks. Unlike most of his contemporaries he was content to record isolated observations without expanding these into a scientific system. In 1798 Saussure was made professor of the natural history school of Léman. He was also a physician, professor of philosophy at Geneva from 1762-86 and creator of Society of Arts at Geneva.
Provenance: Philippe de Vimorin, bookplate. (4)