Versione italiana English version Version française Versión en español
Travels on the Alpes between turism and science: the swiss Saussure and Töppfer
In his Voyages dans Alpes (in four volumes published between 1779 and 1796) the Swiss scientist and naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799), considered to be the founder of alpinism, tells about his long explorations on the French And Aostan sides of the Alpes, during thirty years of travels and studies. In 1787 he climbed the Monte Bianco, and the next years he climbed Rosa and Cervino too.
During his seven travels he took deep scientific observations, first using the term "geology" and discovering many minerals. He also upgraded and developped many devices such as the hygrometer, the anemometer and the electrometer. The Library from Pazlazzo Cisterna preserves the rare edition in eight volumes of the Voyages (Neuchatel 1803-1796), with beautiful maps.
By Rudolf Toppfer (1799-1846), teacher, painter, writer and comics and caricatures author, from Ginevre, in the Library are preserved the Nouveaux voyages en zigzag (Paris 1858 with Sainte-Beuve's preface) and the Premiers voyages en zigzag (Paris 1885), those complete with drawings made by the author, 54 engravings by Calame, Girardet, Francais, Daubigny and others. In this interesting gather of tales Toppfer shows and describes his own travels between the Swiss cantons and the Italian side of the Alpes, from 1837 to 1842. There is also the Voyage à Turin, a rare album in wich are reproduced the drawings by Toppfer nad a lithographic manuscript.