64 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



birds, and mammals, arose." The publishers have done their 

 part to make the book attractive by the use of heavy paper, gen- 

 erous margins, large print, and, above all, by the general excel- 

 lence of the illustrations. No modern Isaak Walton can afford 

 to remain without this thesaurus of most varied piscine lore. 



W. F. B. 



The true Alpinists, lovers of Nature in her primeval 

 DANS LES ^^^^ty and grandeur, seek untrodden trails, and love 

 Alpes." to taste the triumphs of "first ascents." These will 



find piquant pleasure in this volume of excerpts from 

 the writings of de Saussure, the early Swiss mountaineer, scholar, 

 scientist, and artist in his depictions of the grandeur, magnifi- 

 cence, and unsophisticated freshness of the European Alps of 

 his day, 1740-1799. This volume has been lately presented to 

 the Sierra Club Library by our esteemed member Harrington 

 Putnam, of New York. 



I venture to quote from the critique on this work written by 

 the noted Swiss, R. Topffer, and reprinted in this, the edition of 

 1852, from the "Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve," Septem- 

 ber, 1834: — 



"How curious a thing, how strange a destiny that the man 

 who has best known and comprehended the Alps, almost the only 

 one who has sustained their character and grandeur in his style, 

 was a scholar and student, a man of the barometer and hygrom- 

 eter; and that, among so many artists, so many poets, visiting 

 the same places to sing and paint, not one has been qualified to 

 equal him or to approach him even at a distance. 



"De Saussure, who traversed the Alps to study their physics 

 and their natural history, — that is to say, with a serious purpose, 

 mind receptive, and body active, — took as an additional benefac- 

 tion the charm of the country, the beauties of the wayside, the 

 lively and novel experiences that accompanied his work; and at 

 evening, on his summit, in his cabin content, permeated with it 

 all, he penciled his journal; then, into the pauses of science 

 slipped descriptions, memories, and observations of the day; 

 then a thousand features, true because not sought, picturesque 

 and poetic because they were true, took form under his pen ; and 

 without intention he traced a faithful picture, naive and glad- 

 some, wherein is reflected simultaneously the grand scenes which 

 surrounded him and the impressions which dominated him. 



"Do not conclude, however, from what precedes, that it is 

 sufficient to be a geologist or a naturalist in order to be the 

 painter of the Alps ; to have a staff in hand, a barometer in pocket. 

 It is not even sufficient to have, as de Saussure, a passion for the 

 mountains, the most pronounced alpine vocation, the body inured 

 to fatigues, the taste to enjoy mountaineering, to make it one's 

 recreation and delight. With all that, one can still write a sorry 

 book; without that, one can write a good one. But to all that 



* Voyages dans les Alpes. Parti e Pittoresque des Ouvrages de H.-B. de 

 Saussure. Joel Cherbuliez, Editeur. Paris. 1852. 



