Copy on Japon - Lot 473

Copy on Japon PARROT (Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm von) Voyage dans les Pyrénées, "Reise in den Pyrenaen". Berlin, 1823, translated from German and annotated by L. LE BONDIDIER. Paris, Librairie des Alpes, Wahl, sd. (1954). In-8: 164pp. 3f. Edition of 120 copies, one of 20 on Japon (no. 5). Includes subscription form, a set of letters from André Wahl to Raymond Ritter, from François Faure to Raymond Ritter and various other letters and typescripts. Paperback, cream-colored printed cover. A fine copy. This work, extremely rare in its first German edition - P. CAILLAU-LAMICQ was one of the few bibliophiles to own it (no. 173 of the sale of 12/15/04 in Paris) - is highly sought-after in our edition, which is the first in French. V. FRANCK gave a first partial translation in the "Livre d'Or du Centenaire de la Première Ascension du Néthou 20 Juillet 1842 - 20 Juillet 1942", Pau, imp. de l'Indépendant, 1943. The pagination of the French translation is roughly equal to that of the German edition, but it remains to be verified whether the dense text in small fraktur letters is entirely reproduced in LE BONDIDIER's translation. Perret tells us about the character: "Doctor F. PARROT, a German scientist, played an important role in the early days of mountaineering. In 1811, he travelled to the Caucasus and made an attempt to climb Kasbeck to 4,200 metres. In 1816, in the Alps, he and ZUMSTEIN made an attempt on Mont-Rose, which was halted by fog at 3,900 meters. In 1817, in the Pyrenees, he climbed Mont-Perdu and, above all, made the first ascent of the Maladetta. But his greatest ascent was, in 1829, the conquest of Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest peak, which, although not very difficult, is nevertheless 5,165 m high". The book devoted to this first ascent, republished in 1985, is easy to find in Germany. Provenance: Pierre Caillau-Lamicq copy (Sale Caillau Lamicq Pau, n° 165)