GORRET (Amé). Victor-Emmanuel on the Alps: Notices et souvenirs. Turin, F. Casanova, 1878. In-16, half red chagrin binding, gilt fillet on covers, spine ribbed with gilt title (Later binding). Extremely rare first edition, decorated with an original frontispiece photograph of the King in a group of hunters, and 7 out-of-text lithographs by Casimir Teja, an out-of-text fold-out map of the Aosta valley and woodcut vignettes in the text. In his bibliography, Thiébaud mentions a "lithographic portrait" and only mentions a "photographic portrait" for the second edition, which appeared the following year, commenting: "The copies of this work that we have seen do not always have the same portrait. One shows Victor-Emmanuel standing, with his left hand in a pocket and leaning on his rifle with his right hand; another shows him on horseback; finally, in a third, the king, seated at the entrance to a tent, is surrounded by other hunters". He adds: "This little volume is in a way the diary of King Victor-Emmanuel's ibex hunts". It ends with a study by Benvenuto Comba: Quelques mots sur le bouquetin, translated from the Italian by La Blanchère. A fine copy. Abbé Amé Gorret (1836-1907), from Valtournanche, was probably the first to believe that it was possible to climb the Matterhorn. He made an attempt from Le Breuil in 1857 with the two Carrel brothers, and they reached the summit of the Tête du Lion. He took part in the first Italian ascent in 1865, but stayed a few dozen metres below the summit to facilitate the return of his two climbing companions (J. A. Carrel and J. B. Bich). Attracted by the Dauphiné, he was parish priest of Saint-Martin de Clelles in 1881, then of Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans from 1882 to 1884, the year he climbed the Meije. A circular from the Ministry of Religious Affairs forced him to return home, where he ended his ecclesiastical career as parish priest of the poor parish of Val d'Ayas. Thiébaud, 468 - Perret, 1988 - Regards sur les Alpes 89D