Le Massif du Mont-Blanc. Partie Sud (and) Partie Nord.

Le Massif du Mont-Blanc. Partie Sud (and) Partie Nord. Paris, J. Baudry, (1876). Two large folded chromolithographed maps (1030 x 1240 mm), dissected and mounted on cloth. Publisher's blue slip-case with gilt stamped title to front cover. 4to (215 x 132 mm). Slip-case slightly dust-soiled.

Splendid colour maps drawn at scale 1:40,000 by Viollet-le-Duc. For eight years between 1868 and 1876, he used his summer vacation to study and measure Mont Blanc, the greatest of European mountains. His first aim was the preparation of a complete and systematic map of the region under survey – a goal he achieved spectacularly with the production of a huge and stunning chromolithographic plan 'view' of the massif 'as if it had been photographed from an altitude of 10'000 meters'. Thanks to a graphical method using subtly graduated light and shade, he could produce a vivid representation of the configuration of the slopes, with its hollows and recesses, and the sharp and abrupt contour of the mountain peaks. Engraved by Erhard and printed by Monrocq, it indicates villages and hamlets, cottages, roads, paths and passages; the terrain has been coloured according to the direction of the sun's rays at 10 o'clock in the morning in summer.