London, 1900, revised edition, edited and annotated by W.A.B. Coolidge. 460 pp, many plates and maps (including a magnificent fold-out map of the Mer de Glace in 1842). Considered one of the landmark studies of the Alps, both geologically and for early travels and climbs. Forbes was one of the first scientist-climbers, and made the first British ascent of a virgin Alpine peak. The author's chief work, 'the most charming, as well as most scientifically important of all books of Alpine travel.' (DNB)
His books are the first English accounts of systematic Alpine exploration and description of various regions.' He made the fourth (first British) ascent of the Jungfrau and the first British ascent of the Stockhorn. This work consists of all of his Alpine works including Travels Through the Alps of Savoy (first published in 1843), Journals of Excursions in the High Alps of Dauphine, Berne and Savoy, Pedestrianism in Switzerland and Topography of the Chain of Mont Blanc.
It is the first English account of systematic exploration in the Alps. The large separately bound map is of the Mer De Glace of Chamouni and of the Adjoining Mountains laid down from a detailed survey in 1842. Forbes was Professor of natural history at the University of Edinburgh. His observations on glaciers made during his expeditions to the Alps and Norway led him to conclude that a glacier is an imperfect fluid or a viscous body which is urged down slopes by the mutual pressure of its parts, that it moves faster than the ice vertically beneath it, and that the velocity of a glacier increases directly with the steepness of its bed. His conclusions involved him in some controversy with John Tyndall and others, but he was undoubtedly the first to obtain accurate measurements, and to establish a definite base for future theories. He was, as Professor Tait says.'the Copernicus or Kepler of this science'.' Cover bright, minor edge wear, corners bumped, Near Fine.
