Charpentier, Jean de | The Norman copy of Essai sur les glaciers...

Charpentier, Jean de

Essai sur les glaciers et sur le terrain erratique du bassin du Rhone. Lausanne: Marc Ducloux, 1841

8vo (212 x 139 mm). Hand-colored engraved folding map, 8 lithographed plates (all but one folding), illustrations in text; very rare pale spots, faint marginal toning, later pencil annotations. Contemporary marbled paper boards, spine gilt tooled with gilt green title label; a few small losses to marbled paper at spine and joints, wear along the edges, lower corners bumped.

“Although Louis Agassiz is usually credited with originating the theory of the Ice Age, the true progenitor of glacial geology was Charpentier…By studying the Rhone Valley and the huge blocks of granite scattered mysteriously throughout it from the Alps to the Jura, Charpentier confirmed the theory proposed by his friend Venetz, that these so-called ‘erratic’ (ie. Uncomfortable) blocks could only have been moved by the action of glaciers, which must have arisen after the formation of the Alps since many of the blocks were mineralogically identical to rocks found in some Alpine peaks… When he introduced his glacier theory in 1834, he was met with incredulity and scorn. Charpentier maintained his position, inviting others to come visit him and see the evidence for themselves. One of these visitors was Agassiz, who became so enthusiastic over the Ice Age theory that he hastily wrote his own work, rushing it into print shortly before Charpentier completed his own Essai” (Norman, Vol. I, p. 161).

REFERENCES

Norman, 162; Ward & Carozzi, 474

PROVENANCE

Gerard de Geer (ink stamp on front pastedown) — Haskell F. Norman (bookplate; Christie’s New York, 29 October 1998, lot 976)