COCKBURN (James Pattison). Views to illustrate the route of Mont Cenis, drawn from nature by Major Cockburn. London, Rodwell & Martin, 1822. In-folio, bound in green half-chagrin with corners (late 19th century binding by Burdsall, bookbinder in Northampton). Rare first edition, illustrated with 50 hors-texte engravings after drawings by J. P. Cockburn, lithographed by C. Hullmandel. A copy with large margins. Magnificent album on Savoy and Piedmont; the illustrations include views of the Grande Chartreuse, Chambéry, the Charmettes house inhabited by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montmélian, the Maurienne, the Col du Mont Cenis, Novalese, Suze and Turin. A very good copy, free of foxing. James Pattison Cockburn (New York 1779 - Woolwich 1847), a cadet at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, studied watercolour painting with Paul Sandby. He began his military career in Cape Town, South Africa, then took part in the Manila expedition. Returning to England in 1803, he was at the Siege of Copenhagen in 1807 and above all at the Siege of Antwerp in 1809, where he negotiated the terms of the surrender. With the Napoleonic Wars over, after several years in England, he was given command of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in Quebec in 1826, where he remained for 6 years. He finished his military career as Director of the Royal Laboratory at the Royal Arsenal in London and was promoted to Major General. Throughout this time, he indulged his passion for drawing and watercolour painting, leaving a record of the regions he inhabited, as well as collections of picturesque views executed during his travels in Italy and the Alps. Some brown spots. Perret, 1043 - Regards sur les Alpes 41