432 - Austria

Austria Baumgartner, Joseph The Newest and Finest Scenic Routes Across the Alps. Described based on a journey through Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Tyrol, the coastal region and Lombardy, part of Piedmont, and southern Switzerland. With 13 folded lithographic plates. Vienna, Ullrich, 1834. 2 leaves (title, half-title), VIII, 332 pp. 8°. Marbled. Contemporary paper binding with title on a paper label (buffed and scuffed). First edition of this title, which is notable in the history of road construction. — Joseph Baumgartner (1796–1884) was director of road construction in Lower Austria. The plates depict bridges, tunnels, mountain roads, and other features along the routes from Vienna to Trieste, Milan via the Simplon Pass, and via the Stelvio Pass to Mals, Innsbruck, and Salzburg. - The white margins are slightly foxed in places; a few leaves also have some finger stains and water stains along the edges, as do the plates, which occasionally have a faint light-stained edge and are somewhat dusty. First edition of this early work on road construction in the Austrian Alps, profusely illustrated with 13 folding lithographed plates. Bound in contemporary marbled boards with the title on a spine label (somewhat bumped and worn). - Joseph Baumgartner (1796–1884) was director of the Lower Austrian Road Construction Authority. The plates depict bridges, tunnels, mountain roads, and other features along the routes from Vienna to Trieste, Milan via the Simplon Pass, and via the Stelvio Pass to Mals, Innsbruck, and Salzburg. - Slightly foxed in places; a few sheets and some plates also have slight finger and water stains along the margins; the plates show moderate shelf wear at the margins and are somewhat dusty.