The Alps in Prose and Picture
The Alps. By R. L. G. Irving. (Batsford. los. 6d.)
THE text that accompanies picture-books is often a mere make-weight: Mr. Irving's book is an exception. His 120 pages of text are full of diverse and reliable information, and the 13o excellent photographs really illustrate the text. The book is all it claims to be : a compact, entertaining descrip- tion designed to enlighten readers who as yet know little of , the Alps, and to recall past enjoyments to others. Mr. Irving writes with knowledge and enthusiasm of the scenery, history and geology of the Alps ; he is a climber, but he notices the life of the people ; he sees the desperate routes on the north face of the Eiger or the Grandes Jorasses, but he also sees the . alpenrose, the ranunculus glacialis, the marmots, bouquetins and chamois ; he remembers the legen- dary dragons and the vanished lammergeier, but he has a sharp eye for the ptarmigan, the snow-finch and the red- winged wall-creeper. He discusses section by section the main ranges from Monte Viso to the Julian Alps, and on each section he speaks with the authority of personal experi- ence. But his favourite centres are Arolla and Cogne, and he wisely recommends them to beginners, though it was on the face of the Za, near Arolla, that one of his parties let fall a stone that enraged a party down below : "Nous vous aurions manggs, si vous nous aviez rues."
In his time Mr. Irving has fought his own battles against convention on behalf of the young and enterprising climber, but he has no sympathy with the neck-or-nothing tactics of the younger German and Italian schools. His book is not likely to lead any beginners into foolhardiness unless they fail to grasp the implications of deliberate under-statement. " Do not be deluded into the belief that the descent of this pass (the Sesia Joch) is safe or easy because two English ladies accomp'ished it without disaster in 1869." The Misses Pigeon were not ordinary English ladies, and they specialised in long, difficult and dangerous descents.
Despite the unduly long erratum slip, which gives an initial impression of inaccuracy, the book contains little that calls for correction. The excellent huts of the Club Alpin Francais around Bonneval might have been mentioned instead of the less accessible Italian huts on the far side of the range ; the Touring Club de France hotel on the Col du Bonhomme ought to be mentioned among the possible sleeping-places near the col itself ; the Refuge Caron (which is being enlarged) is better than the old, damp Refuge Tuckett as a starting- point for Les Ecrins or the Pic de Neige Cordier.
Mr. Irving rightly points out that Alpine scenery is full of traps for the painter : the intensity of the light, the scale, the sense of distance are in some ways rendered more easily by the less ambitious camera than by the brush. The standard of Alpine photography is high, but the photographs in this book are as good as those in any book of the kind ; and a:though the life of the valleys, the pastures and the pine- woods is admirably represented, the climber will find plenty of rock-walls, ridges, cornices and ice-falls to give him arm-
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