‎(BRIDGES, George Windham (Wilson): ‎
‎Alpine sketches, comprised in a short tour through parts of Holland, Flanders, France, Savoy, Switzerland and Germany during the summer of 1814. By a member of the University of Oxford. ‎

‎London, Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1814, in-8vo, VII + 1 p. errata + 312 p., exlibris aux armes de la famille de Sarah Phillott / exlibris Peter E. Obergfell, fine in cont. half calf and marbled boards gilt, with maroon calf label.‎

Reference : 141259aaf

‎First edition, rare. This edition was followed by a 2nd edition in 1821 with coloured plates. Both editions are very rare. For the alpine & Swiss part, Bridges voyage went from Geneva to Chamonix, Col de Balme, Martigny, Sion, Leuk, Gemmi Pass, Kandersteg, Thun, Berne, Herzogenbuchsee, Baden, Zurich, Schaffhausen and Basle. The author’s first book, with a substantial portion on his climbs on Alpine peaks. An attempt at Mont Blanc, ascent of Mont Anvert, the Gemmi and Col de Balme. Appended with routes and itinerairies and lengthy notes, mostly on Switzerland, includingtext quoted from „a person who accompanied M. de Saussure on an ascent of Mont Blanc“. Récit de voyage dans les Alpes par un Membre de l’Université d’Oxford. Les pages 97 à 132 concernent la vallée de Chamonix. Nombreuses références à Jean-Jacques Rousseau. L’appendice 27 contient un intéressant témoignage de l’ascension de Saussure réalisée en 1787, extrait du journal d’un membre de la caravane. Wäber 56; de Beer, Travellers in Switzerland p. 132; Dreyer, 294 (Irrtümlich 320 S.); Engel 259; Perret 0708-A (Bridges, George Wilson as stated in the new editions of 2011 & 2016). ‎