There is no doubting Smith's enthusiasm for the mountains, but he was also a self-publicist who exploited and nurtured the public's passion for Alpine adventure.
The showy and, to the more serious mountain men, dangerously ignorant Smith, did not endear himself to all his fellow mountaineers or contemporaries. Writer and wit Douglas Jerrold observed that his initials represented merely two-thirds of the truth, while Dickens resigned from the Garrick Club when Smith was elected; but to the wider public, Albert Smith was simply The Man of Mont Blanc.
He made the first of a number of unsuccessful attempts on Mont Blanc whilst studying medicine in Paris, hitch-hiking to Chamonix where he tried but failed to get taken on as a porter by any party setting out for the summit.
Back in London, he gradually drifted away from the idea of a medical career and took up writing instead. He wrote for Punch, acted as a drama critic to the Illustrated London News and even wrote his own plays.
It was in 1849, however, that a visit to Egypt saw his fortunes begin to change.
His experiences there inspired him to mount his first public entertainment, 'The Overland Mail', and the money it made allowed him to make one more attempt on Mont Blanc - this time with more money and leisure time at his disposal.
From Chamonix, he set out with three companions, 16 guides and a score of porters carrying provisions that included 35 small fowls, eight shoulders or legs of mutton, four packets of prunes, 10 small cheeses, 20 loaves, four wax candles and no fewer than 100 bottles of wine!
Allegations of over-dramatisation and naïvete greeted both Smith's book about his adventure, The Story of Mont Blanc, and the hugely popular show that he then put on at The Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly.
Smith could afford to ignore all criticism and jibes, for the book sold well (nowadays it can make up to £2000 at auction) while 'The Ascent of Mont Blanc', a series of dioramas in which the journey from London to the summit was interspersed with historical, topographical and more light-hearted matter, played to packed houses and saw special royal command performances.
The show ran for six years and reportedly earned Albert the then huge sum of £30,000.
The success of the Egyptian Hall show prompted a fashion for Swiss costume, saw the introduction to England (and a gift to Queen Victoria) of St Bernard dogs and made the song and dance charts with such titles as Mont Blanc Quadrille and the Chamonix Polka.
Engravings and magic lantern slides were also available, but merchandising did not stop there. As Ronald Clark in his excellent and highly informative book on The Victorian Mountaineers (1953) relates, a sort of Alpine snakes and ladders called 'The Game of Mont Blanc' sold by the thousand, and on June 17 Woolley & Wallis (19.5% buyer's premium) offered a very rare example of a peepshow, 'Mr Albert Smith's Ascent of Mont Blanc' from 1854.
Through the front of the wooden viewing box, which opens in concertina style and is modelled as the Egyptian Hall, 15 hand-coloured lithographs of mountains and climbing scenes could be viewed. The printed decoration of the frontage is now creased, worn and damaged, but this rare reminder of a London sensation of the 1850s came complete with the booklet, Handbook of the Miniature Mont Blanc.
It trounced its modest £200-400 to sell at £3600.
By Ian McKay
