GRAND-CARTERET (John) - Lot 377

GRAND-CARTERET (John) The mountain through the ages; the role it has played, the way it has been seen. I/ Des Temps Antiques à la fin du dix-huitième siècle II/ La Montagne d'Aujourd'hui. Grenoble, Falque & Perrin ; Moutiers, Ducloz, 1903-1904. 2 strong volumes in-4: XVI, 560pp. / 2f., 494pp., 1f. ; 2 frontispieces, numerous illustrations in the text, some full-page, 3 double-page color plates. Edition of 2400 copies (no. 531). ½ buff morocco with filleted corners, ornate ribbed spine, gilt title and fillets, mosaic mountain decorations in the central boxes, stenciled transhumance shadow play at the foot of the first plate of Volume I and the last plate of Volume II, publisher's covers preserved, gilt heads. A very fine copy. First edition (reprinted by Slatkine in 1983). This tireless compiler, born in 1850, specialized in documentary and curiosity books. His taste for choice iconography and his talent for unearthing rare documents make his works, more than popularization books, first-rate documents for the researcher and the curious. The absence of an index makes them difficult to consult.