1961 Fratelli Fabbri Pictorial View of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, France and Italy
GalleriaMonteBianco-fabbri-1961$350.00
Title
La Galleria del Monte Bianco.
1961 (dated) 15.5 x 21.75 in (39.37 x 55.245 cm)
1961 (dated) 15.5 x 21.75 in (39.37 x 55.245 cm)
Description
This is a 1961 Fratelli Fabbri Editori pictorial view of the Mont Blanc Tunnel celebrating the possibilities (and engineering marvel) of an underground link connecting France and Italy. It was published two years into its construction the Mont Blanc Tunnel's construction and four years before it opened.
A Closer Look
With Chamonix, France, on the left and Entrèves, Italy, on the right, Monte Bianco (or Mont Blanc) dominates the sheet. The tunnel runs below the mountain near the bottom of the page and connects Chamonix and Entrèves. Numerous peaks of the Mont Blanc massif are identified, and their elevations provided, with Monte Bianco at center and rising 4,807 meters. A map in the upper right illustrates how, via the tunnel, the journey from Paris to Milan is shortened by 173 kilometers. An infographic in the lower left corner distances from Paris to two French towns on the Italian border (Tenda (Tende) and Monginevro (Mongenèvre)) and from Paris to Entrèves, soon to be the Italian terminus of the Mont Blanc Tunnel emphasizing the shorter distance and the time saved.Publication History and Census
This view was created and published by Fratelli Fabbri Editori in 1961 in an edition of L'Educatore Italiano. We are aware of one cataloged example which is part of the collection at the Museo Nazionale della Montagna in Turin, Italy.Cartographer
Fratelli Fabbri Editori (1947 - present) is an Italian publishing house founded by the brothers Giovanni, Dino and Ettore 'Rino' Fabbri. Initially focusing on textbooks and other educational materials before branching out in to other fields including the arts and classics, the brothers' meteoric rise made them one of the most successful mass market publishing firms in Italy by the late 1950s. Their success continued into the 1960s, when the experimented with multimedia products (books and accompanying records). By the 1970s, a worsening business environment and political threats caused the brothers to divest from the business and its operations, but the company retained the name Fabbri, even as it was acquired by larger publishing firms (today it is owned by Rizzoli Libri, which is itself owned by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore). More by this mapmaker...
Condition
Fair. Wear along original fold lines. Old tape repairs on verso with staining evident on recto. Pinholing. Small area of loss to upper margin. Old verso repairs to tears.
References
Museo Nazionale della Montagna MTUR701.