LABORDE (Jean-Benjamin de) and ZURLAUBEN (Béat-Fidèle de La Tour-Châtillon de). Tableaux topographiques, pittoresques, physiques, historiques, moraux, politiques, littéraires, de la Suisse. - Tableaux de la Suisse, ou Voyage pittoresque fait dans les treize cantons et états alliés du corps helvétique. Paris, Clousier, 1780-[1788]. 4 volumes in-folio, glazed calf, gilt roulette and gilt filleting, spine ribbed and decorated, title-pieces and tomaison, roulette on the edges, inner lace, speckled edges and 1 volume in-folio, full calf binding, spine rebound, title-piece, double gilt filleting on the boards, inner lace, speckled edges (contemporary bindings, the first 4 volumes in homogeneous bindings protected in modern bordered slipcases). A superb copy of the first edition of the best description of the Swiss cantons of the period. Volumes I and II contain the text, volumes III and IV contain the plates, the 5th volume (bound differently) contains the tables as well as the complete list of subscribers in a slightly smaller format, which is almost always missing. In addition to the frontispiece by Moreau le Jeune and the two identical engraved titles, the very rich illustrations include 7 folding maps, 1 large folding view, 115 full-page views, 214 half-page views, 6 plates of medals, 2 half-page views of antiquities, 11 plates of portraits, including 2 on head vignettes. The views, finely engraved in intaglio by Née and Masquelier, are the work of the best draughtsmen of the period: Alexis-Nicolas Pérignon, Peintre du Roi (1726-1782), Jean-Jacques Le Barbier l'Aîné (1738-1826), Claude-Louis Châtelet (1753-1795), Alexandre-Charles Besson (1725-1809) and others. This work contains as a preamble M. Besson's "Mémoire pour les savants". The historical part is by Zurlauben. Volume I is complete with LXVI pp. of proofs. The plates are in perfect condition, protected by uncreased serpents. Jean-Benjamin de Laborde (1734-1794), musician and polygrapher, first valet de chambre and favourite of Louis XV, became fermier général on the death of the King. He was one of the driving forces behind the movement that took scholars and the curious to Switzerland in the 18th century. He visited the Chamonix valley in 1777, and in particular made an excursion to the Argentière glacier. He undertook a systematic tour of Switzerland in 1781. He was guillotined during the Terror. Beat-Fidèle de la Tour-Châtillon de Zurlauben (1720-1799), from a family originally from Zug in Switzerland, made a career in the Swiss Guard in Paris. He fought in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), becoming brigadier general and marshal of camp. He owned one of the richest private libraries in Switzerland (which he had to sell at the end of his life, his military pension having been withdrawn during the French Revolution) and was a great scholar. See M. Pinault's study of this work in "La montagne et ses images", ed. C. T. H. S., 1991, pp. 305-317. A magnificent copy in contemporary French binding. Perret, 2506 - Regards sur les Alpes 20 - Cohen 1075 - Coolidge 52