A true panorama of the view from Monte Generoso

BOSSOLI, Edoardo Francesco.

Panorama preso dal Monte Generoso da E.F. Bossoli.
Milan: F. Tensi for the Bollettino del Club Alpino Italiano, c.1875. Lithograph on four sheets conjoined, total 215 x 2415mm, folded into original blind-stamped buckram; original advert on front pastedown.

A little wear to folds.

The view from the summit of Monte Generoso (or Calvagione), presented as a true panorama (i.e. a full 360º view), with copious landmarks named in facsimile handwriting.
Located in the Lugano Prealps on the border of Italy and Switzerland, its 1700-metre height gives a view of Piacenza, Milan, Trieste, Lake Lugano and even the Matterhorn.
The advert, designed for this publication, illustrates Dr Charles Pasta's Hôtel Monte Generoso. Edward Lear, artist and "nonsense poet", spent six summers there from 1878-83. Much as he loved the scenery, painting many aspects, he hated the crowds of tourists. An unpublished poem written at the hotel in 1882, 'Lays of the Octopods', begins: 'From Monte Generoso / When the leaves were turning brown / Five hundred thousand Octopods / All painfully came down''.


Stock ID : 20638