Cunningham (Carus Dunlop) and Abney (William de Wyveleslie). The pioneers of the Alps. London, Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1887. Large in-4°, bound in green half-maroquin with corners, gilt fillets on covers, spine with 5 ornate bands, title and authors gilt on spine, gilt head (Sangorski & Sutcliffe). The rarest large-margin first edition of this much sought-after reference work. Illustrated with 24 plates out of text, including 22 superb portraits of famous guides photographed by W. Abney, and 25 engravings in the text. It includes a history of the development of mountaineering and 35 biographies of the greatest guides of Grindelwald, Chamonix and Zermatt, 22 of whom were still alive and photographed for the book. This first biography of the great alpine guides is very well documented and the superb hors-texte portraits, photographed by William de Wiveleslie Abney, are true masterpieces. A very fine copy. Carus Dunlop Cunningham (Edinburgh 1856 - 1896) was a Scottish climber who enjoyed winter climbing in his native mountains. He was the son of Sir Alexander Cunningham, who made his military career in India (he was Deputy Governor General of Bombay from 1836 to 1840), and his brother was a diplomat in Bern. Cunningham made many ascents in the Alps, and was part of the rescue caravan that brought back the bodies of Sir Balfour and his guide Johann Petrus, who fell in an avalanche in 1882 while attempting to climb the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey. William de Wiveleslie Abney (Derby 1843 - Folkestone 1920), a chemical engineer, played an important role in the development of photographic processes, and was himself an excellent photographer. Perret, 1173 - Regards sur les Alpes 94 - Neate C156 - Coolidge 238