BERALDI (Henri) - Lot 33

BERALDI (Henri) Balaïtous and Pelvoux. I/ Notes sur les Officiers de la Carte de France. II/ A Geodesy Officer in the Pyrenees in 1786-1795. Les premières Ascensions du Grand Pelvoux by Captain Durand. Paris, 1907-1910. 2 volumes in one large in-4: 3f, 206pp, 1f / 3f, 228pp, 1f; 40 plates hors texte, mostly folding (16/24) (the 2 double-page facsimiles each count as one plate). "Limited edition. Autograph letter from Henri Beraldi to Pierre Soubiron. Contemporary ½ green basane, title, iron and gilt fillets on smooth spine, light rubbing. A good copy, very fresh inside. The first volume contains the incredible account of the first conquest of Balaïtous in 1826, by lieutenants Peytier and Hossard, who had only gone up there to carry out topographical surveys and who recorded this remarkable victory in a few terse sentences in a service record. In the second, BERALDI recalls Junker's stations in the Pyrenees, including three years spent in the Basque country in 1786 and subsequent years. "Junker alone was a Basque Alpine Club". A piece of writing we can't get enough of! Paul Heilbronner's copy sold for €2,500 in December 2004, a record for this book (with dispatch and an autograph letter all the same)(Labarère 146-148).