Marc-Théodore Bourrit

Marc-Théodore Bourrit, who lived from 1739 to 1819, was a traveller and writer from the Republic of Geneva. He trained as an artist and etcher and served as a pastor, and in 1768 he was made precentor of the church of St Peter at Geneva, a post that left him free to explore the Alps. In 1775 he made the first ascent of the Buet by the route from the Pierre à Bérard, and in 1784 and 1785 he was the first traveller to attempt Mont Blanc, which he never summited. In 1787 he reopened the route over the Col du Géant. Louis XVI gave him a pension and Emperor Joseph II named him historiographe des Alpes. His books include Description des glacières de Savoye (1773) and Itinéraire de Genève, Lausanne et Chamouni (1791).