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FYI France: Mountaineering in France, online
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Wed Jun 19 19:03:10 2002
Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 09:19:41 -0700
From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-to: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
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FYI France: Mountaineering in France, online
The very interesting Mountaineering digital library, being
assembled at Chambe'ry,
http://www.bm-chambery.fr/services/expos/montagne2002/pages/sommaire.htm
provides a useful summer focus, for at least two reasons:
* something to look at / think about / ponder besides
falling bombs and scrambling politicians,
* something nevertheless importantly related to the
latter, as the biggest bombs under current controversy --
the ones in South Asia -- directly threaten some of the
world's most beautiful mountains...
So, ecologist or escapist -- Sierra Clubber, Alpine Clubber,
Everest trekker, or simply in need of a "news" break -- anyone
equipped with mouseandmodem / DSL may enjoy and even benefit from
the resource offered here, by the bibliothe`que municipale of
Chambe'ry, France's digital library gateway to the Alps --
1) From the Pre'face -- by Andre' Gilbertas, former mayor of
Chambe'ry
"The Me'diathe`que Jean - Jacques Rousseau invites us to a double
adventure, with its fine exhibition 'The Discovery of the
Mountains': the history of the literature of mountaineering, and
the mountain as seen through books, with its reflections on the
relationships between mountains and humanity..."
"Mountains have appeared [in literature] in many ways: mountains
in imagination, in the worship of divinities, in the fear of
devils, in romance; mountains in science, with the arrival of
geologists, mineralogists, doctors, physicists, botanists,
doctors; mountains in the modern world, for tourism and for
sports and becoming places for adventure and for excellence..."
"The selection made by the librarians of the 'Memory and the
Region' department of the Me'diathe`que offers works of
particular significance, the products of publishers in France
(Paris, Lyon, Chamonix, Chambe'ry), Holland (Amsterdam),
Switzerland (Geneva, Bern, Neuchatel), Italy (San Remo...), and
conveys an idea of the important role which mountains have played
over time in human society..."
2) Monts horribles
"The Terrible Mountains! For a long time people avoided mountains
-- forbidding obstacles, they complicated transportation, and
appeared hostile to human habitation and to cultivation. These
places seemed to offer little of interest, only fear and terror."
Images and text: inter alia --
1 : Chronique de Savoie / Guillaume Paradin. Lyon, 1561.
2 : Theatre geographique de la France. Paris, 1637 : La mont
maudite.
7 : Helveticus, sive Itinera alpina... / J.J. Scheuchzer.
Lugduni Batavorum, 1723.
9 : Beaute's de l'histoire de Sardaigne, de Savoie... / P.J.B.
Rougarez. Paris, 1821.
11 : Carte et description generale du Dauphine' avec les confins
des pais et provinces voisines / Jean de Beins. Amstelodami, 1633.
12 : Carte de Savoie / par Jacques Fougeu. [Ca 1600].
20 : Le massif du Mont-Blanc y est nomme' Glacie`res.
3) XVIIIe
"The Perception of Mountains through Literature (18th c.).
Albrecht Von Haller, Jean - Jacques Rousseau, et William
Wyndham... These writers presented mountains in a better light.
Horace - Be'ne'dict de Saussure climbed Mont - Blanc."
Images and text include:
13 : Historia stirpium indigenarum Helvetiae incohata.- Bernae :
sumptibus societatis typograficae, 1768.- 2 vol. , 2° .
17 : Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Lettres de deux amants... -
Amsterdam, 1761. Edition originale.
18 : Gravure : Les Habitants de la Savoie.
19 : Le lac de Gene`ve au XVIIIe sie`cle. Gravure frontispice de
: Saussure, Horace - Be'ne'dicte de . Voyages dans les Alpes...
- Neucha^tel : Fauche, 1803.
20 : Carte du Lac de Gene`ve et des pays circomvoisins... - Paris
: Buache, 1740. Les Glacie`res et la village de Chamonix sont
situe's, mais le Mont - Blanc n'existe pas.
22 : Windham, William. - Relation de deux voyages aux glaciers de
Chamonix... - Gene`ve : Bonnant, 1879.
38. L'expe'rimentation de l'e'cho dans le de'file' de Cluses est
un passage oblige' de l'excursion aux glacie`res.
28 : Bordier. - Voyage pittoresque aux glacie`res de Savoye... -
A Gene`ve : chez L.-A. Caille, 1773.
31 : Luc, Jean-Andre' de. - Recherches sur les modifications de
l'atmosphe`re... - Gene`ve, 1772. Le barome`tre portatif et son pied.
34 : Bourrit, Marc- Theodore -Lettre de M. Bourrit à Miss Craven
sur deux voyages faits au sommet du Mont-Blanc...- San Remo :
Biancheri, 1911. Passage sur les pre'cipices.
35 : Le glacier des Bossons. front. Tome 1. Bourrit,
Marc-The'odore. - Nouvelles descriptions des glacie`res et
glaciers de Savoye... - A Geve`ve : chez Paul Barde, 1785.
36 : Vue du village de Chamonix
39 : Saussure, Horace-Be'ne'dicte de. - Voyage dans les Alpes...
- Neucha^tel : Fauche, 1780. L'itine'raire du Mont-Blanc.
40 : Saussure, Horace-Be'ne'dicte de. - Essai sur l'hygrome'trie.
- Neufchatel : Fauche, 1783. - Hygrome`tre a` cheveux.
41 : Portraits de Balmat et Pacard.
4) XIXe sie`cle
"Mountains in the 19th Century. The heritage of the Enlightenment
-- the 19th century romantic gave us an idyllic vision of the
Alps. The Victorian English discovered the mountains."
Images and text include:
43 : Carte "The Graian Alps extr.de : Peaks and passes and
glaciers de Shirley Kennedy - Paris : Ferrier, 1836.
* [from the Website text:]
"Alpes, vous n'avez point
subi mes destine'es
Le temps ne vous peut rien ;
a vos fronts le'ge`rement ont porte' les anne'es
Qui pe`sent sur le mien.
Pour la premie`re fois, quand rempli d'espe'rance,
Je franchis vos remparts
Ainsi que l'horizon un avenir immense
S'ouvrait a` mes regards
L'Italie à mes pieds, et devant moi le monde ;
Quel champ pour mes de'sirs
Je volai, j'e'voquai cette Rome fe'conde
En puissants souvenirs"
44 : le Cre'tin d'Aoste extr. de : Escalades dans les Alpes de
Edouard Whymper - Paris : Hachette, 1873.
45 : Eboulements de roches sur le chemin" extr. De "Lettres sur
la Suisse - Paris : Engelmann, 1823-1826.
46 : grav. "Finsteraar Horn", extr. De Peaks and passes and
glaciers de Shirley Kennedy - Paris : Ferrier, 1836.
5) XXe sie`cle
"The Mountains as Playground (20th c.). Alpinism and winter
sports make mountains increasingly popular. Having been
conquered, they now must be protected."
Images and text:
51 : gravure de Whymper repre'sentant Leslie Stephen. Extr. de
Escalades dans les Alpes de 1860 a` 1869 / Edouard Whymper -
Paris : Hachette, 1873.
52 : le Cervin, gravure de Whymper. Extr. de Escalades dans les
Alpes de 1860 a` 1869 / Edouard Whymper - Paris : Hachette, 1873.
56 : l'avalanche. Extr. de Les Alpes : descriptions et re'cits /
H.A. Berlepsch ; ill. E. Rittmeyer. - Ba^le : H.Georg, 1869.
57 : carte postale "le ski a` Chamonix".
59 : photos du concours international de 1908. Revue La Montagne.
63 : Extr. de Les Alpes : description pittoresque de la nature et
de la faune alpestres / Fre'de'ric de Tschudi. - Berne : Dalp, 1859.
6) Bibliographie
49 works representing the basic texts of French mountaineering...
Note:
The site is extensively annotated and superbly illustrated --
sort of a one - stop - shopping point for anyone fascinated by
mountaineering bibliography and its history, as in the digital
library representation of same. Saussure, Whymper, Balmat,
Pacard... Mont Blanc, Chamonix, Savoy, the Mer de Glace and the
Glacier des Bossons...
So, anyone interested in skiing, kayaking, climbing, hiking,
camping, wildflowers, wild animals, trees, water, fresh air --
also in saving all of that from the various depredations which
now threaten them -- might want to see this new French digital
library site. Even better, how about a trip to the French Alps,
stopping by Chambe'ry on the way up... sure beats sitting at home
and watching the nightly news headlines, recently anyway...
--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916
*
| FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic
| journal published since 1992 as a small-scale,
| personal experiment, in the creation of large-
| scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler.
/ \ Any material written by me which appears in
----- FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for
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Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler,
all rights reserved except as indicated above.
--hjlm--
