Picturesque Tour from Geneva to Milan, by way of the Simplon: illustrated with thirty six coloured views of the most striking scenes and of the principal works belonging to the new road constructed over that mountain, engraved from designs by J. and J. Lory, of Neufchatel; and accompanied with particulars historical and descriptive by Frederic Schoberl

Schoberl, Frederic; illust. J. and J. Lory

Edité par Rudolph Ackermann, London, 1820

A propos de cet article

First edition in book form. London: Published by R. Ackermann, 1820. Quarto (10 7/8" x 7 5/8", 276mm x 196mm). [Full collation available.] With an engraved map (H. Frost) and 36 hand-colored aquatint plates (dated 1820; watermarks 1819-1820). Eight-page publisher's catalogue (251mm x 147mm) bound in at rear. Bound in the publisher's blue drab boards, backed with red roan (rebacked). On the spine, five panels separated by double gilt fillets. Gilt round fleuron in the panels. Title gilt to the second panel. Rebacked. Boards bumped, with some wear at the edges. Closed tears to the upper and lower edges of the rear board. Mild, even tanning to the text-block. Some offsetting from the plates. Initial engraved map foxed. Engraved armorial bookplate of Godfrey Wright, A.M. (by W. West) on the front paste-down. Frederic(k) S(c)hoberl (1775-1853) was long associated with Ackermann's Repository of Arts, one of the foremost Regency periodicals (and in which, from 1818-1820, the Tour first appeared). There was little Schoberl did not do; he wrote and edited, translated and illustrated. In the present work (the first edition, Voyage Pittoresque, Paris: 1811, features the illustrations of the Lorys but not Schoberl's text) he contributes to the growing aesthetic category of the Picturesque, which stands in distinction to the Sublime. The Alps join these two categories. The Simplon Pass had become the dominant route through the Alps after Napoleon had a road constructed 1801-1805 to facilitate the movement of artillery. English tourists in particular would travel to Italy "via post," using stage-coaches. The journey took them through Sion and Brigg, Lake Maggiore (with its stunning Isola Bella), Lake Como and finally Milan. The literary import of the region in this period is unparalleled: it is on the banks of Lake Geneva (the start of the journey) that Lord Byron (whom Schoberl quotes, e.g., p. 21), Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley gathered in 1815; this summit (well, valley) brought forth Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The illustrators, Gabriel and Mathias Gabriel Lory (also known as Gabriel the Elder and Younger; how this became "J. and J." is unclear), were prominent Swiss landscape painters. Father and son traveled to Neuchâtel to produce their views of the newly-opened Simplon route. The dating of the plates by their imprints and watermarks is crucial, since, as Tooley notes, "the impressions of these later issues are considerably inferior to the originals." Godfrey Wright (ca. 1781-ca. 1862) was admitted as a pensioner to Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1804, M.A. 1807). He lived at Bilham House in Hooton Pagnell, South Yorkshire in his latter years, describing himself in the census as a "clergyman without cure of souls." Tooley 446.

N° de réf. du vendeur 6JLR0137

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Picturesque Tour from Geneva to Milan, by way of the Simplon: illustrated with thirty six coloured views of the most striking scenes and of the principal works belonging to the new road constructed over that mountain, engraved from designs by J. and J. Lory, of Neufchatel; and accompanied with particulars historical and descriptive by Frederic Schoberl
• Éditeur: Rudolph Ackermann, London
• Date de parution: 1820
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: First.
• État de l'article: Very good
• Catalogues du vendeur:
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