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FRESHFIELD, Douglas William (1845-1934)
The Exploration of the Caucasus by ... Freshfield ... with illustrations by Vittorio Sella
London & New York: Edward Arnold, 1896. 2 volumes, 4to (11 x 7 1/2 inches). Half-titles, letterpress titles with half-tone vignettes. 80 plates (comprising: 1 folding line-drawn key-plate, 2 half-tone plates [1 folding] and 77 photogravures [including 3 folding panoramas]), 4 folding maps printed in colours (one in pocket at end of vol.II, as issued), numerous half-tone illustrations, most from photographs by Vittorio Sella, M. de Déchy, Hermann Woolley and Clinton Dent. Original two-tone green cloth, blocked and lettered in gilt, t.e.g.
First edition of a primary work on the Caucasus and the "magnum opus" of one of "the greatest mountain explorers... he was one of the most scholarly and sensitive of mountain writers and was twice Chairman of the Society of Authors" (Neate).
Freshfield was at various times in his life President of the Alpine Club, editor of the Alpine Journal, and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. "In the course of three journeys - in 1868 and again in 1887 and 1889 - ... [Freshfield traversed] the main chain of the Caucasus eleven times by eight different passes ... [and he] took part in the first ascent of three of the great peaks, Elbruz [5642m], Kasbek [5047m], and Tetnuld [4974m]" (preface p. x). The photogravures are particularly beautiful in this work, and as the preface makes clear, Freshfield was particularly pleased with them: "I know of no case where a region, hitherto mysterious, has been so suddenly and completely revealed in all its details as the Central Caucasus has been by Signor Vittorio Sella, by his predecessor in date, M. de Déchy and by his successors, Mr. Hermann Woolley and Mr. Clinton Dent." Sella's work, in particular, is spectacular: he was probably the greatest mountain photographer of his day and carried his camera and glass plates to above sixteen thousand feet in his efforts to capture the beauty of the high mountain landscapes.
Neate 288
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#20353 $2,500.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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