Alps and Sanctuaries of Piedmont and the Canton Ticino (1882)

First edition, issued November 1881 (BII ALP 1882.3)

One product of Butler’s European expeditions was Alps and Sanctuaries, a lively guide to the religious buildings and natural features of Piedmont and the Canton Ticino. Describing the many places he visited over the course of several summers, Butler weaves in his personal reflections on the people, religious attitudes and local artistic traditions he encountered. He dedicates the book to Italy, ‘as a thank-offering for the happiness she has afforded me’.

The book is illustrated with reproductions of Butler’s own sketches and paintings (the originals of which are in the Library collection), as well as colourful digressions on subjects as diverse as the speed of technological progress and the seasonal availability of rhubarb. As one contemporary reviewer put it: ‘It is a book that Wordsworth would have gloated over with delight, and taken as coming from the hands of a genuine disciple of nature.’

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