RODOLPHE

TOPFFER (1799-1846)  , the inventor of pedestrianjourneys in Switzerland by schoolboys, was born at Geneva on the 31st of January 1799 . His grandfather, a tailor, came about 176o from Schweinfurt (Bavaria) to settle in Geneva, while his father, Adam, was an artist . Rodolphe's literary education was rather desultory, as he intended to be an artist, like his father . But in 1819 his weak eyesight put an end to that intention, so he studied in Paris, intending to devote himself to the profession of schoolmaster . After passing some time in a private school in Geneva (1822-1824), he founded (1824) one of his own, after his marriage . It was in 1823 that he made his first foot journey in the Alps with his pupils, though this became his regular practice only from 1832 onwards . These Voyages en zigzag were described annually (1832-1843) in a series of lithographed volumes, with sketches by the author—the first printed edition appeared at Paris in 1844, and a second series (Nouveaux voyages en zigzag) also at Paris in 1854 . Both series have since passed through many editions . In 1832 he was named professor of belles-lettres at the university of Geneva, and held that chair till his death, on the 8th of June 1846 . As early as 1834 he published an article in the Bibliotheque universelle of Geneva . It was followed by a number of tales, commencing with the Bibliotheque de mon oncle (1832), many of which were later collected (1841) into the well-known volume which bears the title of Nouvelles genevoises . He took some part (on the Conservative side) in local politics, and was (1841-1843) editor of the Courrier de Geneve .

Among his other

works are an edition of Demosthenes (1824), and a volume of artistic studies, the Reflexions et menus propos d'un peintre genevois (1848) . Lives by A . Blondel and the abbe Relave (both published at Paris, 1886), and shorter notices in E . Rambert's Ecrivains nationaux (Geneva, 1874) ; and E . Javelle's Souvenirs d'un alpiniste (Lausanne, 1886; Eng. trans., 1899, under the title of Alpine Memories), and several chapters in Ste Beuve's Causeries du lundi, Derniers portraits litteraires and Portraits contemporains . (W . A . B .