Spotlight

LORY, Gabriel-Louis and Mathias-Gabriel - [Jean-Frédéric d’OSTERVALD, 1773-1850]. Voyage pittoresque de Geneve à Milan par le Simplon. Paris, P. Didot l'aine, 1811. Folio (425 x 285 mm). [46] ff. (incl. last blank; some leaves paginated), with 35 aquatint plates printed in blue and bistre, all coloured by hand and highlighted with gum arabic. An additional folding map of the Principality of Neuchâtel, which is not part of the work. Contemporary straight-grained red morocco, gilt border on cover composed of a Greek key, twine and pearl roll, smooth spine divided by Greek-key rolls into seven panels, the second with green lettering piece, the rest with fleurons, cover edges and turn-ins gilt, all edges gilt. A trifle rubbed, one corner slightly creased; text somewhat foxed as usual, plates in perfect condition.

First edition. "Voici un des plus beaux et des plus rares albums d'estampes enluminées parus au début du XIXe siècle" (Perret). 

This beautiful work describes the journey between Lake Geneva and Lake Maggiore, written by the Neuchâtel cartographer and politician Jean Frédéric d'Ostervald based on 35 superb plates etched after drawings taken from nature by Gabriel Ludwig Lory (1763-1840) Gabriel Lory (1784-1846) and one by Maximilien de Meuron (1785-1868). The plates were printed in Neuchâtel by Chrétien-Henri Wolfrath on chamois vellum (bearing the watermark J. Whatman 1811) and finely enhanced with colour.

The text is full of details about the history, geography and customs of the regions covered. A fascinating portrait of the Valais - featuring views that Gattlen considers 'of paramount importance for the topographical illustration of the Valais' - is followed by a description of the new Simplon road commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte due to its strategic importance for the defence of northern Italy. Designed by the engineer Nicolas Céard, it is considered to be the first carriageable road in the Alps; twenty of the thirty-five plates are devoted to it.

The success of this iconography made it one of the most copied or imitated works in the following decades.

The plates show: Geneva from Cologny; Les Eaux d'Amphion; Shores of Lake Geneva; The end of Lake Geneva; The St. Maurice Bridge; The Pissevache Waterfall; Sion seen from the west; Sion seen from the east; Brig; Ganther Tunnel and Bridge; Exit of the Schalbet Tunnel; Schalbet Tunnel; The Glacier Tunnel; The Simplon Hospice; The Village of Simplon; The Algaby Tunnel; Inside the Algaby Tunnel; Ponte Alto; The New Road near the Great Tunnel; Inside the Great Tunnel: The Exit of the Great Tunnel; View near Gondo; The Issel Tunnel; Entrance to the Dovedro Valley; Bridge over the Cherasca; Entrance to the last Tunnel; Crevola Bridge and the Domodossola Valley; Crevola Bridge; Villa; Lake Maggiore; Baveno Bridge and Isola Madre; Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands; Isola Bella; Isola Bella seen from Stresa; Arona; Sesto.

PROVENANCE: Heinrich Sarasin-Koechlin, 1886-1964 with his bookplate.

REFERENCES: Perret 2694; Mandach 172-206; Lonchamp, 473; A. Gattlen, L'estampe topographique du Valais, p. 51 ff.

PRICE: CHF 20 000