Johann Jakob Scheuchzer - Itinera Alpina 1723

Approximate Reading Time: 2 minutes

I will probably write something longer about Scheuchzer's 1723 edition of Itinera Alpina in the future.

Right now I am so fuelled by nerdy excitement at this recent addition to my collection that I will share some images on Instagram & Facebook throughout the week... need to sharpen my latin before reading 😃

For the uninitiated Johann Jakob Scheuchzer was a Seventeenth and Eighteenth century Swiss physician and a fellow of the Royal Society. He published works on natural history and travel in Switzerland and the Swiss Alps.

Here be Dragons

This four volume work entitled Itinera per Helvetiae alpinas regiones facta annis 1702–11 covers Scheuchzer’s journeys to most parts of Switzerland but mainly its central and eastern districts. Included in it are accounts of various Swiss glaciers. Although part of the plan of this work was to refute some popular myths and superstitions about the mountains, from a man who was after all Professor of Mathematics and then Physics at Zurich University, he in fact ends up devoting quite a lot of time to the legends of scary beasties in the Alps.

Gavin de Beer, in his delightful book; Early Travellers in the Alps, devotes a chapter to Scheuchzer. The chapter is entitled “A Great Alpine Tourist”! As I mentioned there will surely be more to follow on this one. In the meantime here is a link to some images from the book, some of which will be of Alpine Dragons.

More on Monte Rosa

There is another longer post about Monte Rosa in the offing. I have a busy couple of weeks ahead so not sure when I will be able to finish writing that, but there will probably be another non-mountain related post about "How to Change Your Job" on the blog in the meantime.