182 - [MALO, Charles]. The Simplon: A Picturesque Journey from Geneva to Milan.

[MALO, Charles]. The Simplon: A Picturesque Journey from Geneva to Milan. First edition of these walks between Geneva and Milan, illustrated with 12 charming steel engravings hand-colored, in a delightful romantic binding in full morocco leather from the period. Paris, published by [Louis Janet], undated [1824]. In-12 (85 x 137 mm), full cherry-grain morocco, spine with 4 broad flat false ribs highlighted by a triple gilt fillet, panels framed by gilt fillets and adorned with embossed and gilt friezes and fleurons, covers adorned with a central blind-stamped rosette and a framing design consisting of a gilt fillet, blind-stamped and gilt friezes, an inner gilt frieze, and a dotted gilt fillet on the edges; blue moiré paper endpapers and linings; gilt edges. 2 unnumbered folios (half-title and table of contents) and 207 pages, 12 steel-engraved and hand-colored plates. Minimal scuffing, slight black spots on the covers, fragile stitching in the middle of the volume, faint foxing. The title page and the engravings’ captions are missing. First edition of this account of a journey from Geneva to Milan via Lake Geneva, the Valais, the Simplon Pass, and the Borromean Islands; all illustrated with 12 superb landscapes engraved on steel and finely hand-colored, based on the famous compositions by the Swiss painters Gabriel Lory, father and son. These plates feature the most spectacular views from their monumental *Voyage par le Simplon* of 1811, including the St. Maurice Bridge, Sion (east side), the Galerie des Glaciers, the village of Simplon, and Milan. This picturesque travelogue also includes a verse ode to the glaciers of Switzerland and chapters devoted to Mont-Cenis, the Pyrenees, and the Grande-Chartreuse. It is attributed to Charles Malo (1790–1872), a French polymath and man of letters who achieved great renown during the Restoration, notably for founding the famous journal *La France littéraire*. [Barbier, IV, 496]. A fine copy, in a very attractive romantic full morocco binding.