SAUSSURE (Horace-Bénédict de). Voyages dans les Alpes, précédés d'un essai sur l'histoire naturelle des environs de Genève. Neuchâtel, Louis Fauche-Borel, Samuel Fauche, 1786, 1796, 1803. 4 vol. in-4° bound in full leopard-printed fawn calf, spines gilt and decorated, gilt fillet and gilt roulette framing the boards (later binding, 18th c. pastiche). Decorated with plates outside the text (see condition report). Vol. 1 is the 1803 reprint of the original published in 1779. Vol. 2 is contemporary with the original edition: it is a Neuchâtel co-publication, published the same year alongside the Geneva edition by Barde et Manget, which is similar in every respect. Volumes 3 and 4 are in the original edition. A very fine copy, complete with all the illustrations. In this work, de Saussure recounts his many explorations of the Alps, particularly around Mont Blanc, which he sought to understand and measure. He adopted an empirical approach: each expedition is described in detail, including instruments, routes and measurements. He was particularly interested in the formation of mountains, the composition of rocks and the structure of glaciers, but he also emphasised the sensory experience of the mountains: the beauty of the landscapes and the emotion they aroused. This text contributed to the birth of mountaineering and the modern vision of the mountains. Provenance: Château d'Auvernier library Good to very good condition Binding: Several split jaws A few scratches and light rubbing to the boards A superficial epidermis on the upper cover of volume 2 Inside pages: The text pages are very clean Several leaves slightly foxed in T3 The plates are in very good condition, with no tears Slight foxing to the map of Lake Geneva in T1 Collation: T1: XXII - 454 pp, 1 folding map and 8 plates (including plates 6 and 7 grouped on the same folding map) distributed throughout the work as indicated in the notice to the bookbinder T2: [2] ff, XVI - 641 pp, [1] f. notice to the bookbinder + 1 folding map and 6 plates distributed throughout the work as indicated in the notice to the bookbinder + 2 folding tables of observations marked p.576 and 589 T3: [2] ff, XX - 532 pp, [1] f. explanation of pl.2, 2 plates in-fine T4: [2] ff, 594 pp, [2] ff (explanations of plates, warning and errata), 1 vignette granite rocks on the St Gothard road (opposite p.56) + 5 plates in-fine