3-008-760 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ascent of Mont Blanc: M. Bisson's photographic expedition leaving the station of the Grands Mulets, 1862. Engraving from a photograph by Auguste-Rosalie Bisson, the first person to take pictures from the summit of Mont Blanc. 'Modern science has recorded few triumphs greater than those gained within the last few years by photography...The photographic lens opened the march, escorted by a perfect arsenal of chemicals and collodion, wooden stands, tripods, rope ladders, tents, mattresses, and the indispensable bundles of provisions...A thick fog soon surrounded us; frozen snow mixed with hail beat in our faces...frequent falling avalanches thundered in our ears...the "caravan" arrived safely at the highest ridge of Mont Blanc. The sky was splendid; there was scarcely any wind...but nearly all the voyageurs complained of an extraordinary weariness, and many were suffering from pains in the head and spasms caused by the rarefaction of the atmosphere. Without losing an instant of the favourable weather in an ill-timed admiration of the magnificent panorama...the apparatus [was] prepared...and to M. Bisson's intense satisfaction...three fine panoramic views were taken out of the machine and fixed for printing in his Parisian ateliers'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.