Val d'Aran - Spain - Lot 372

Val d'Aran - Spain GOURDON (Maurice) A Travers l'Aran - Itinéraire d'un Touriste. Paris, Charpentier, 1884. In 16: 2f., 148pp; numerous illustrations in text, including 25 full-page ones after the author's drawings, and a fold-out map in fine. A free Gourdon carte de visite in the book. ½ marbled fawn basane, ornate ribbed spine, gilt head, publisher's yellow cover retained. A good copy. "Rare, reprints texts already published by GOURDON in various magazines. Much sought-after" (Labarère 707). Maurice Gourdon (1847-1941) decided to settle in Luchon in 1871 and devoted most of his time to the Pyrenees. As a geologist, he studied and collected samples. A species of trilobite bears his name: Gourdonia Gourdoni. A draughtsman, painter and lithographer, he left hundreds of documents, many of which can be found in the Luchon museum. As a photographer, he took his large photographic camera all over the Luchon mountains and was one of the greatest Pyrenean photographers. In 1872, he met Eugène TRUTAT. Together, they embarked on a number of scientific expeditions, studying in particular the advance of glaciers, most notably the Maladeta glacier (1873). He methodically traversed the Luchonnais mountains, achieving numerous firsts: the Mail pintrat, the Mail planet, the pic Noir. He premieres the Grande Encantat in the Val d'Aran, and the Aneto in winter. He explores the Larboust valley, a former Oô glacial valley, to survey its boulders. At the same time, he inventoried the megaliths: cromlechs, menhirs, alignments on the Espiau mountain, then, in the Val d'Aran, at Pla de Beret. As a cartographer, he took part with Franz SCHRADER and Paul Édouard WALLON in the topographical surveys used to draw up the new staff maps, under the instructions of Captain PRUDENT, whose methods would later be applied to the mapping of the Alps. He then traversed the southern slopes of the range: Aragon, Maladeta, Val d'Aran, Andorra and Catalonia. He was one of the first to write about Andorra, a small country with difficult access. Henri BERALDI included him in his Pléiade pyrénéiste, alongside Henry RUSSELL, Aymar de SAINT-SAUD, Paul Édouard WALLON, Franz SCHRADER, Alphonse LEQUEUTRE and Captain PRUDENT. He is the author of nearly 170 works on his explorations, geology, flora and fauna, and a wide variety of other subjects.