Beschreibung:

HUMBOLDT, Alexander von (1769-1859) and Aimé J.A. BONPLAND (1773-1858). Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples de l'Amérique . Paris: F. Schoell, 1810 [but 1813].
HUMBOLDT, Alexander von (1769-1859) and Aimé J.A. BONPLAND (1773-1858). Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples de l'Amérique . Paris: F. Schoell, 1810 [but 1813]. Large 2° (580 x 412mm). Engraved dedication to Visconti, 16pp introduction dated 1813, 69 engraved, etched and aquatint plates mostly engraved by Bouquet in Paris or by Arnold in Berlin after sketches by Humboldt and drawings by Aguera, Koch, Marchais and others, on 68 sheets (nos. 8 and 9 on one sheet) including 25 hand-coloured and one hand-coloured double-page view of Chimborazo. (Lacking half-titles, small repair on title, occasional soiling and spotting.) 19th-century half green morocco (extremities rubbed and scuffed). FIRST EDITION of the ‘most beautiful and generally interesting of Humboldt's works’ (Sabin). The superb coloured aquatints include the double-page plate of the great volcano of Chimborazo in the Andean highlands. Most of the illustrations were made after Humboldt's original sketches; he was closely involved in the publication, especially in checking the colouring of the illustrations. This Atlas Pittoresque , part of a 30 volume work, is one of the most important publications resulting from Humboldt's and Bonpland's journey through Central and South America (1799-1804), which opened the continent to the scientific explorers of the 19th century. Brunet III: 373; Lipperheide Md6; Sabin 33754.