The latest illustrated book in the series of nostalgic travel books by the Taschen Verlag weighs almost as much as a boulder that you can just barely lift. The more than 600-page work weighs a whopping 6.4 kilograms.
“The Alps around 1900 – a journey in colour” is the name of the heavyweight that takes the viewer on a nostalgic journey when the Alps were not yet an overdeveloped travel destination and tourism was still in its infancy. The multilingual edition – the texts and captions are in German, English and French – is divided into five chapters according to the Alpine regions and countries.
Edited by Sabine Arqué and Agnès Couzy, the volume brings together old photochromes, photographs, colored postcards, posters, suitcase labels and travel brochures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Alps of yesteryear
The recordings show not only the overwhelming nature, the lush alpine pastures and rugged mountain peaks, the state of the bizarre-looking equipment with which people conquered the mountains, but also the achievements of modern times, such as the technical masterpieces in iron and road construction over mountain passes and the arrival of electricity in the grand hotels.
From today’s perspective, the most impressive are the pictures of valleys from which the glaciers have long since retreated 120 years later. “The Alps 1900” also documents the consequences of climate change in the mountains.
Also take a look at the photo series of the following magnificent volumes:
– Italy: This is what the longed-for travel destination in the south looked like 120 years ago
– Japan shortly after opening: Vintage photographs show the original country
– On the Streets of San Francisco: Images from the Gold Rush to the Present
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