[MANUSCRIPT] [SWITZERLAND] [MOUNTAINEERING] Rose & Espine, or the True and...

[MANUSCRIPT] [SWITZERLAND] [MOUNTAINEERING] Rose & Espine, or the True and Chronicled Chronicle of the Illustrious and True Adventures of Two Poor Pilgrims in the Oberland, with a Most Luminous and Honest Description of the Said deeds and actions, narrated under the shade and protection of beautiful portraits and gallant paintings for the full enjoyment and proper digestion of all blessed readers
An extraordinary late 19th-century manuscript recounting a travel narrative in an extremely refined language that parodies Rabelais and his fantastical and linguistic world. The two protagonists of the story are friends, presumably bound by strong ties, as the epistle and dedication page reads “Dear sir and beloved brother!!!,” under the whimsical names of Brother Pocula and Brother Trocquart.
The manuscript’s first numbered page features a “notice” with a fictitious publisher’s imprint: “Pantin, at the author’s, at the bleeding leg of lamb, October 18, 1894,” followed by a page of moralizing: “Upstream from your hole, don’t strain to fart; like that fool at the bottom of a well who peed right out onto the street,” signed Lor-a-Vac (most likely an anagram, though certainly difficult to decipher). The third numbered page is the actual title page, “Rose & Espine,” featuring magnificent animal-themed initials.
Period full calfskin binding signed by Engel (a bookbinder known for his cardboard bindings produced for Hetzel, the publisher of Jules Verne), spine and covers richly decorated with antique-style gilded frames and motifs, gilded scroll borders on the endpapers, and marbled endpapers. Some scuffing, small losses, and cracks at the joints.
Complete collation of VII pp.; (1ff.), 343 handwritten text pages, each with a neat frame and without a single erasure, and XIII pp. of plates. The work is divided into two parts: the first book with 17 chapters and the second book with 20 chapters and an epilogue.
Numerous in-text illustrations, a few out-of-text illustrations (all compiled in a table of engravings with a title for each illustration), numerous initial letters, some of which are highly elaborate (a technique resembling shadow puppetry, reminiscent of the world of the Black Cat of Montmartre, is often employed), 35 mounted photographs, each enriched with ornaments and drawings accompanying the photograph in a highly refined composition. Printed on laid paper, crafted in the style of an authentic print found among the finest books for discerning bibliophiles.
Through this highly erudite Rabelaisian language (the author clearly seeks to create a genuine pseudo-Renaissance language, with archaic spelling, syntax, turns of phrase, and vocabulary), we follow our two travelers from Lucerne to Oberhofen via Lake Lucerne, Lake Urner-see, Witznau, Gersau, a stop at the Tellsplatte site and Fluelen (and the Bristenstock mountain), Wasen, Goschenen (a photograph humorously captioned “Admire, good folk, the marvelous urinal of Groschenen”), Andermatt, the Schöllenen Gorge on the Reuss River between Groschenen and the Devil’s Bridge (the latter featured in a beautiful photograph showing “Trocquart” sketching the scene), Uri (the famous Uri Tunnel is featured in a photograph captioned “This is the very deep hole of Uri”), the Rhône Glacier, the Grimsel Pass, Handeck and the view of the Aare River, Meyringen and the Reichenbach Falls (where the famous character Sherlock Holmes met his end!), Brienz, the Giessbach Falls, Interlaken, and Spiez, among others…
A true chronicle of Alpine adventures, these accounts of journeys through the Swiss Alps are told in the style of a genuine medieval legend, punctuated by the twists and turns, pranks, and merriment characteristic of the genre. The abundant illustrations greatly enhance the heroic atmosphere; the photographs allow us both to admire the magnificent landscapes and to experience, alongside the two protagonists, these “stops” along the way that serve as breaks between hikes. Some photographs depicting the two companions themselves, striking carefully considered poses, make them endearing (photographs of “my friend Trocquart in the snow, on the descent from the Furca,” pipe in hand, and “Trocquart among the rhododendrons,” or the one captioned “This image of Pocula in the snow is a picture against the grain. You who are fond of dogmatic truth, brush it all back, and you will be served to your heart’s content”)
As for the initials, headers, lamp bases, and various drawings that decorate the manuscript (and frame the pasted-in photographs), they are peppered with references and lend the work great narrative interest.
Although the identification