GLACIOLOGY

BOURRIT, (MARC THEODORE).

Nouvelle Description des Glacieres, Vallées de Glace et Glaciers qui forment la grande Chaine des Alpes, de Savoye, de Suisse et D'Italie. Nouvelle Edition, revue & augmentée; complete en 3 volumes, ornée de Tableau dessinés sur les lieux par l'Auteur, & gravés par les meilleurs Artistes. 3 vols.

Geneve, Barde, Manget, 1787. Bound in 3 contemp. full calf. Spines gilt and with tome-and title-labels with gilt lettering. A paper-label pasted on lower part of spine on volume one. A stamp on title-pages. Engraved frontispiece. (1), XVI, 308; (2), 244; 290 pp., 1 large folded engraved map (gravée par C.G. Geisler) and 13 engraved plates (incl. frontispiece, numb. I-XIII, all). A few scattered brownspots. A fine, wide-margined copy.

A fine copy of this scarce classical work on the Alps and its glaciers, written by the famous Swiss traveler and writer Marc Theodore Bourrit (1739-1819), a great and enduring traveler of the Alps who pioneered in making them known to the rest of the world. He was furthermore the first to ascent the Buet and the first traveler (and second person in all) to attempt to climb Mont Blanc.

Originally, Bourrit, actually born in France, was an artist, etcher, and pastor famous for his wonderful singing voice and love of music. When he was given the job as choirmaster of the Church of St Peter in Geneva, he finally had time to devote himself to the exploration of the Alps, for which he possessed a great passion. Saussure, who had initially come up with the idea of someone climbing the tallest mountain, the Mont Blanc, and had offered a reward for doing this, usually brought Bourrit with him on his mountain-ascents, both due to his abilities in this field, but also due to his excellent artistic skills with which he would be able to document the excursions.

But Bourrit's greatest merit lies in making the Alps know to the rest of the world, and in this he was a pioneer. From 1769 he had toured the Alpine country year after year, and he kept doing this until 1802 (he stopped aged 63). Perhaps his greatest work is the present "Nouvelle description des glaciers"... which constitutes one of the first attempts to spread public knowledge about the Alps and the glaciers.

Due to his important work within the field, he was named "historiographe des Alpes" by Emperor Joseph II.

Order-nr.: 40674