GRÜNER (Gottlieb Sigmund). Die Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes. Berne, Abraham Wagner, 1760. 3 vol. in-8°, bound in half basane with corners, spine ribbed, title-pieces on spine, spotted edges (paper on covers and endpapers renewed, upper hinge split over 4 cm and cap detached in volume I, spine half torn off over 2.5 cm at the level of the upper cap of volume III, rubbing) (Period bindings). First edition of this important work on the Swiss Alps and the glaciers of the Mont Blanc massif. Illustrated with a frontispiece by Aberli, a large fold-out map (combining the 2 usually separate maps) and 18 plates drawn by J. L. Aberli, S. H. Grim, D. Dürringer, G. Walser and others and finely engraved in intaglio by A. Zingg, including the oldest known panoramic view of Mont Blanc (although not very faithful to reality...). The book also contains the report of Windham's visit to the Chamonix valley in 1741. Good condition inside. Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner (Trachselwald 1717 - Utzenstorf 1778) was a Swiss cartographer and geologist who wrote the first attempt to describe the mountains of Switzerland in detail. Unlike Bourrit and Saussure, who lived in Bern, he did not visit the high mountains himself, and based his writings on scattered and unpublished material on the subject. Perret, 2072 - Regards sur les Alpes 13 - Coolidge 41 - ACL p. 238 - CAS p. 58