Lot 205: MARC THEODORE BOURRIT (1735-1815)

MARC THEODORE BOURRIT (1735-1815)

Description des Alpes Pennines et Rhétiennes. Geneva: J. P. Bonnant, 1781. 2 vols, 8° (200 x 125mm). Folding engraved map by C. G. Geissler after the author, 8 engraved views by Angel Moitte after the author. (Occasional mostly marginal spotting). Contemporary goat-backed marbled boards, green paper labels on spine titled in manuscript (rubbed). Provenance: manuscript license in French dated 1799 on the last leaf of vol. II -- The Alpine Club (stamp).

FIRST EDITION of this work by the self-dubbed 'Historian of the Alps'. 'Artist, singer, womaniser, snob and interminable raconteur, he was an endearing coward with a genius for self-promotion ... Bourrit's one redeeming trait was his fascination with the Alps. He painted them, wrote about them and spoke about them ... The one thing he could not do with the Alps was to climb them. He tried again and again ... but was thwarted by three debilitations: he dreaded cold, he disliked rain and he suffered from vertigo. ... Instead he was happier pottering over the foothills, exploring undiscovered valleys -- which he did with some success -- and telling female tourists how things should be done. ... When in 1775 he eventually managed to climb one of the smaller hills, Le Buet ... he burst into such an extravagance of speech and song that a large boulder was named 'La Table au Chantre' in his honour' (F. Fleming, Killing Dragons, London, 2001, pp. 17-19). (2)

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