BAXTER (George) and MACGREGOR (John). The ascent of Mont Blanc: a series of four views. London, 1855. 4 Baxter process colour lithographs, framed together (frame size 78 x 24.5 cm), with Baxter's dry stamp in the visible margin; image size 13.5 x 10.5 cm. First edition of the views intended to illustrate Macgregor's ascent of Mont Blanc in September 1853, on the occasion of the inauguration of the first Grands Mulets refuge, in the presence of Albert Smith. The views show: 1) The glacier du Taconnay 2) Leaving the Grands Mulets 3) The steep and deep precipice of the Mur de la Côte 4) The summit. A rare and beautiful set. John MacGregor (Gravesend 1825 - Boscombe 1892) was a British lawyer, explorer and writer. Nicknamed "Rob Roy", he popularised the sport of canoeing in Europe and the United States. He climbed Mont Blanc on 21 September 1853, and published an account of his ascent a few days later in the London Times. George Baxter (Lewes 1804 - London 1867) was an English engraver who invented a process for reproducing colour engravings that was somewhere between aquatint and lithography; this process ("lithotint") was quickly abandoned because of its cost, despite the quality of the results obtained, as shown by these views of the ascent of Mont Blanc. Perret, 2739 - Mont-Blanc conquest of the imagination pp. 386-387 - Le Mont-Blanc vu par les peintres pp. 88-91. Le Mont-Blanc dans la gravure ancienne, pp. 194-195 - Rean pp. 115-116