We would like to thank our good friend and fellow ABMSAC (Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club) member Richard Winter,for his recent donation of old Swiss Alpine Club magazines to the AVA-Archive.There are ninety-six magazines in total whose contents cover the most historicaly important period in european alpine climbing history,from 1939-1967.
Front cover of the 1939 edition.
Though not a complete set,these valuable documents highlight the many evolutions in print and pictorial layout from the beggining of the Second World War to the flower-power era of the swinging sixties.
They show that though the glossy front cover of todays SAC-mag is a fairly recent inovation,great quality colour pictures were a feature of the magazine as early as 1952.
The early advertisements are a sheer delight,if not a little terrifying,when we are reminded of the kit that we considered "state of the art" in its time.The Ski-Boot advertisement reminded me of my first pair of realy good "Dolomite" leather alpine boots,that i purchased in Australia in the early sixties,and which took me about four years to break-in!
The articles are of course written in French and Hoche-Deutsch.The earlier magazines were dominated by the French language,but a greater parity was reached in the late fifties with a better balance of German articles.
In the sixties editions we begin to see the long awaited introduction of Schwitzer-Deutsch coloquial influence,that makes our SAC-magazine such a delight to read in these modern days.
SAC 1962-Andes Expedition.
These magazines will not be collecting dust on our shelves! As i write this blog,our archivist Peggy is in "hog heaven" pouring through the hundreds of great articles,and selecting some of the most historicaly significant for translation in English language!
From December-1952 edition.
German to English translation is Peggys forte,and we are looking forward to releasing at least one article per-month on this blog! Once again,our sincere thanks to our friend and ABMSAC colleague Richard Winter for making this possible with his thoughtfull donation.
Good climbing,
Rob.
Though not a complete set,these valuable documents highlight the many evolutions in print and pictorial layout from the beggining of the Second World War to the flower-power era of the swinging sixties.
They show that though the glossy front cover of todays SAC-mag is a fairly recent inovation,great quality colour pictures were a feature of the magazine as early as 1952.
The articles are of course written in French and Hoche-Deutsch.The earlier magazines were dominated by the French language,but a greater parity was reached in the late fifties with a better balance of German articles.
In the sixties editions we begin to see the long awaited introduction of Schwitzer-Deutsch coloquial influence,that makes our SAC-magazine such a delight to read in these modern days.
These magazines will not be collecting dust on our shelves! As i write this blog,our archivist Peggy is in "hog heaven" pouring through the hundreds of great articles,and selecting some of the most historicaly significant for translation in English language!
German to English translation is Peggys forte,and we are looking forward to releasing at least one article per-month on this blog! Once again,our sincere thanks to our friend and ABMSAC colleague Richard Winter for making this possible with his thoughtfull donation.
Good climbing,
Rob.
