Beschreibung:

Title: Manuscript diary with original photographs from a hiking trek in the Alps of Switzerland Author: Place: Switzerland Publisher: Date: [1929?] Description: 25 leaves, neatly written in a calligraph script on the rectos, final leaf with text on verso also. 81 mounted original photographs, several colored by hand, various sizes 2x3" to 6x8", several small ink sketches as well. 23x30 cm (9¼x11¾") original suede binding. A superb handwritten account of a hiking trek in the Swiss Alps. Neatly penned in an attractive hand and illustrated with original photographs taken on the excursion. The images suggest a date of the 1920s, the first entry is dated Saturday July 13, which only occurred that decade in 1929. The narrative is very legible and a very descriptive story of the adventure. The photographs are captioned by hand with many of peaks identified. An enthralling journal. Hand written diary of a journey to Switzerland and hiking in the Alps. Eloquently written travel-hiking-trekking-and mountaineering volume, completely written in calligraphy, crisp, clear, and legible. The travelogue contains 81 original photographs (some color tinted, a couple are panorama views/photos of the Alps), with several hand colored drawings, exquisite ink drawings (nature, trees, butterflies). The photographs include the author and two others, trekking, hiking and traveling in the Alps in Switzerland. The three people in the photos appear to be the mother and father of the young lady, who I believe was the writer; she appears to be about 20 years old. Handwritten daily entries of their sojourn which commenced on Saturday, July 13 circa 1920's, to Sunday, the 4th of August. She writes: “By the time we reached Berne everywhere was brilliant and we were assured of a sunny welcome. It is after here that the view of the Alps in the distance first breaks upon the traveler. At first the silvery masses seem only to be those of clouds such as may be seen floating at sunset in our English skies, but before long we find that these masses piled on the horizon are not swept away by the winds – they are real and enduring. Half an hour’s run from Berne brought us to Thun and the bright blue lake bearing the name, along the banks of which we traveled to Spiez, and there made our first change on to the Lotschberg Railway. A line of many tunnels, but in spite of these, views enough are left to give us vistas of beautiful valleys, mountain streams, a ruined castle here, and a little village there, always capped by the huge peaks of snow. At last we arrived at Brigue and, 10 minutes further on, Visp, where we entered the mountain railway which was to take us up to Zermatt, and which runs at the side of the river Visp, surely the most torrential torrent that ever was!! The wheezy little steam engine tugged us up, groaning under its load, and after two hours, sometimes at not more than walking pace, we finally arrived at Zermatt. It was not until we were practically there that we had our first glimpse of the Matterhorn, for it hides round the corner in the most tantalizing fashion, but at last it burst out, lifting up its head far into the skies, lonely and isolated from the rest of the wonderful peaks. The whole of our journey had taken us 27 hours of continuous travelling , but we were well repaid by the wonders of this valley." Further on she writes “After 1 hour 20 min. we were at the Gornergrat itself and there lay before us one of the finest panoramas and most wonderful spectacles imaginable of dazzling mountain tops and sparkling glaciers. Through the telescopes we could see alpine climbers making their way across the snowfields and it was absolutely impossible to discover them with the naked eye.” On this page she has affixed panoramic photos of the mountain range that is within their view, with each one identified in her fine calligraphy hand. “Wed. 17th, On to the Gorner Gorges where we had a stiff climb up to the first gorge