Description des Alpes Pennines et Rhetiennes…
Eight engraved plates & one folding engraved map. xix, 247 pp.; 2 p.l., 285 pp. Two vols. 8vo, cont. mottled calf (extremities a bit rubbed), flat spines gilt. Geneva: J.P. Bonnant, 1781 [an early owner has added two I’s the Roman numeral date making it “1783”].
First edition and rather scarce. Bourrit (1735-1815), the son of a watchmaker in Geneva, was one of the first to systematically explore and record the Alps and their geological features. In the years 1784-85 he was the first to attempt the ascent of Mont Blanc (not conquered until 1786). In 1787 he reopened the... More