248 - [PYRENEES - RAMOND DE CARBONNIÈRES, Louis]. Observations Made in the Pyrenees, as a Follow-up to Observations on the Alps, Included in a Translation of W. Coxe’s Letters on Switzerland.

[PYRENEES - RAMOND DE CARBONNIÈRES, Louis]. Observations Made in the Pyrenees, as a Follow-up to Observations on the Alps, Included in a Translation of W. Coxe’s Letters on Switzerland. Complete first edition with its 3 fold-out plates. A copy from the library of the great Pyrenean explorer Louis-Henri Sallenave, enriched with an autograph letter from his friend Maurice Heïd, another pioneering figure in the high mountains of Pau. Paris, Belin, 1789. 2 parts in 2 in-8 volumes, each bound in green half-basane, with four faux ribs, panels decorated with gilded fleurons, and covers in green grained percaline. 2 unnumbered folios (half-title, title page), VIII–284, 2 unnumbered folios (half-title, title page), and 285–452 pp., 3 folding plates. Spine sun-faded and re-dyed against the covers; light foxing; a few browned leaves. First edition of this seminal text, considered the birth of Pyrenean mountaineering. It is complete with its three fold-out plates engraved in intaglio: the large panoramic view titled “Views of the Pyrenees Taken from the South of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre” and the detailed map of the “Part of the Pyrenees” (Part One), as well as the general map titled “The Pyrenees” (Part Two). Louis Ramond de Carbonnières (1755–1827), a geologist and botanist, was one of the first scientific explorers of the high mountains. Published anonymously, his written study departs from the traditional travel accounts of the time by combining rigorous observations (barometry, inventories of flora) with a sensitive approach to nature. Through this dual scientific and literary approach, he established the foundations of a new discipline and is still regarded as the father of Pyrenean mountaineering. On the inside front cover of the first volume is an illustrated bookplate by Louis-Henri Sallenave (1883–1981), a renowned Pyrenean mountaineer, one of the earliest skiers, and mayor of Pau, whose library remains a benchmark for high-mountain collectors. Included is an autograph letter signed by Maurice Heïd (1881–1957), cartographer and Pyrenean mountaineer, addressed to his “Dear President and friend,” Louis-Henri Sallenave, then president of the Pau chapter of the French Alpine Club (1 p., in-12 on letterhead, April 17, 1926). In it, Heïd discusses local efforts undertaken in Pau regarding the Allias affair. Distinguished provenance.