Excursion dans les Alpes. 1832.

Geneva, J. Freydig, 1832 (-1833). With figured title and 32 full-page illus. after drawings by the author, some with his monogram, text and drawings reproduced in autography. (112), (1) pp. Large oblong 8vo. Contemp. half morocco. Old ms. entry Picon Mallet. (Geneva, J. Freydig, 1832 (-1833)). First edition. This is Rodolphe Töpffer's (1799-1846) first excursion, undertaken in the autumn of 1832. This account was never included in his collection "Voyages en Zigzag", and there was no printed edition, only the drawings on pp. 12, 17, 25, and 113 were later used as illustrations in his works. Unnumbered pages 3-7 with the list of participants are in Töpffer's own writing, the others seem to be a copyist's hand. Töpffer undertook this excursion together with his wife, the gentlemen Ritter and Sayous, and 24 other youngsters; they hiked through the Valais, crossed the Gemmi pass into the Bernese Oberland, and returned to Geneva via Bern and Fribourg. Töpffer's comedic stories were not originally intended for publication, but he continued to create othes in his spare time to entertain his acquaintances. A.o., Goethe persuated him to publish his stories. Töpffer can be seen as the earliest European cartoonist. - Blondel 357 ("A very rare album"); Lonchamp 2936; Vicaire VII, 861. ILLUSTRATED BOOKS (BEFORE 1900) ; HELVETICA: GENF ;