5 5. Agassiz, Louis. Etudes sur les Glaciers. Neuchatel: Jent et Gassman [Atlas: H. Nicholet], 1840. £4,250
First edition. 2 vols. 8vo & folio (text/atlas), a matched set. Text vol.: pp. [iv, title, dedication], v, 346, [1, errata]; ex-library copy with blindstamps to prelims.; some occasional browning, good in contemporary half calf, worn; Atlas: 18 finely executed lithographic plates, one with two illustrations, the first fourteen plates with accompanying ‘key’ plates; plate 6 spotted to verso, but otherwise in very good condition, bound with the original upper wrapper in modern period-style half calf with old boards retained, preserved in a purpose-made cloth slipcase.
2
PMM 309; Meckly 1; Perret 19 (“Ouvrage fondamental sur la théorie des glaciers … très rare”). Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) studied in several areas of science, but his enduring contributions were those in the study of glaciers. The first proponent of the idea that the earth had been subject to a past ice-age, Agassiz joined a succession of theorists, including H.-B. de Saussure, who regarded the glaciers of the Alps as special objects of study. In the late 1830s Agassiz made many visits to Alpine glaciers, and indeed for a short time he stayed in a specially constructed hut on one of the Aar glaciers to investigate glacial movement. His important Etudes sur les Glaciers represents the culmination of this period of his studies. The work not only propounds his views on glaciology, which among other ideas suggested that in the past Switzerland had been covered by an ice-sheet of which the present glaciers are remnants; it also offered some of the most exactly executed illustrations of Alpine glaciers, after originals by Joseph Bettannier. The work immediately brought Agassiz to the attention of the international scientific community, and remains a cornerstone of both scientific and Alpine literature.
6. Ball, John. Ball’s Alpine Guides. Styrian, Carnic and Julian Alps. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1873.
£125
First edition thus. 8vo. pp. [iv], 315-602, [1, ad.]; 2 folding maps, key map front endpapers; embrowning to first and final leaf, else near-fine in the original cloth, gilt, crease to upper board.
Neate B31; Perret 0236; cf. Moss et al. AL013. Ball’s Alpine Guide appeared in three volumes from 1863-8, covering the Western, Central, and Eastern Alps. In 1873, the guide appeared in 10 separate volumes, each devoted to one region, see also the following two items.
7. Ball, John. Ball’s Alpine Guides. Bernese Alps including the Oberland. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1875.
£95
New edition. 8vo. pp. [iv],144; 3 folding maps, key map front endpapers; embrowning to first and final leaf, else near-fine in the original cloth, gilt. Ownership inscription of J. R. Dakyns to prelims.
Neate B19; Perret 0235; Moss et al. AL007a. A reprint of the 1873 edition in this series. The previous owner of this volume, John Roche Dakyns (1836-1910), was a member of the Geological Survey and a mountaineer.
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