Martin - Svizzera Pittoresca - 1838

ROMANTIC SWITZERLAND IN 130 IMAGES: THE ALPS, CITIES, COSTUMES AND PANORAMAS IN 1838
ABSTRACT
A monumental illustrated journey through Romantic Switzerland, published in Mendrisio in 1838 and dedicated to the 22 cantons, to Savoy, to part of Piedmont and to Baden. Alexandre Martin combines geography, history, statistics, description of places, customs and social observation with an extraordinary iconographic apparatus. The work includes numerous steel-engraved plates out of text, with views, panoramas, costumes, scenes of life and Alpine landscapes, some folded plates. It is the second Italian edition, following the first in 1836, and one of the most fascinating illustrated books on Switzerland of the Romantic era.
A specimen in an elegant contemporary half-leather binding with marbled boards.

WHY TO BUY
IMMAGINI DELLA SVIZZERA – steel-engraved plates collect images of cities, mountains, lakes, monuments, traditional costumes and scenes of daily life, creating a true visual atlas of nineteenth-century Switzerland.
GRANDI PANORAMI ALPINI – Especially spectacular are the panoramic views and the folded plates dedicated to the great Alpine landscapes, including Mont Blanc and the Chamonix valley.
VIAGGIO E COSTUME – Not only landscapes: the work documents traditional clothing, daily activities, architecture, towns, villages and customs of the different cantons, offering an iconographic testimony of Switzerland before the great tourist transformation of the second half of the nineteenth century.
SECONDA EDIZIONE ITALIANA – The Mendrisio edition of 1838 is a rare and sought-after Italian edition of this Romantic work, published by Tipografia della Minerva Ticinese.

MARKET VALUE
The completeness of the iconographic apparatus and especially the possible presence of the large folded map of Switzerland substantially affect value. For a complete copy in contemporary binding and in the conditions shown, a reasonable antique market range is about €200-300.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary half-leather binding in hazelnut color, smooth spine with title “MARTIN / LA / SVIZZERA / PITTORESCA” and borders and ornaments impressed in gold; boards covered in marbled paper. Light abrasions and signs of use to the binding. Plates out of text engraved in steel, full-page and some folded: urban and Alpine views, panoramas, monuments, popular costumes and scenes of life. Pages with some physiological foxing and stains. In old books, with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. The images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (2); 296; 2nn; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
La Svizzera pittoresca e suoi dintorni.
Mendrisio, Tipografia della Minerva Ticinese, 1838.
Alexandre Martin.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
La Svizzera pittoresca belongs to the great Romantic season of illustrated travel literature. In the first half of the nineteenth century the Alps progressively cease to be regarded merely as a geographical barrier and become one of the great symbolic landscapes of Romantic Europe. Martin builds a true encyclopedic journey through Swiss territory, combining geographical description, local history, statistics, monuments, natural curiosities and observations on customs. The itinerary includes Zurich, Bern and the Bernese Oberland, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel, Schaffhausen, Appenzell, St. Gallen, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Ticino, continuing toward Como, Lake Maggiore, the Valle d’Aosta, Savoy, Chambéry, Mont Blanc, Chamonix, Baden and the Black Forest. The true distinctive element of the work, however, is the pictorial apparatus. The engravings transform the volume into a kind of paper museum of Switzerland around 1840: beside the great Alpine panoramas appear towns, bridges, waterfalls, castles, dwellings, peasants, guides, cantonal costumes and scenes of daily life. The photographs of the exemplar clearly show this alternation between monumental landscape and visual ethnography.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Alexandre Martin was a French author and compiler active in the early nineteenth century, chiefly tied to geographical, historical and travel production. La Suisse pittoresque et ses environs enjoyed diffusion in both French and Italian translation, fitting into the growing European interest in Switzerland and Alpine travel. The publishing success of the work is evidenced by the rapid succession of editions and the richness of the illustrative apparatus, designed for a public interested in travel, geography and the Romantic representation of landscape.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The work originally appeared in French as La Suisse pittoresque et ses environs; the first Italian edition dates to 1836. The present Mendrisio edition, 1838, explicitly bears the frontispiece indication “Seconda edizione.” The wealth of illustrations and the presence of large folded panoramas explain the work’s popularity among collectors of travel books, mountaineering, vedutism and Helvetica.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Perret, Guide des livres sur la montagne et l’alpinisme, no. 2840.
Wäber, Landes- und Reisebeschreibungen, p. 68.
Gonnelli Casa d’Aste, Auction 11, Books, manuscripts and autographs, lot 573.
Alde, Montagne, Alexandre Martin, La Svizzera pittoresca e suoi dintorni.
Libreria Piani, bibliographic catalogue, Alexandre Martin, La Svizzera pittoresca e suoi dintorni.
CCPB, bibliographic census, Mendrisio 1838 edition.
Swiss and European bibliographic catalogs relating to travel literature and Alpine vedutistics.