1. VITTORIO SELLA. La Meije and Breche De La Meije, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AI 488. 22x17.1" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 23.6x18" brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / La Meije and Breche de la Meije / I 488. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: 146/488 / 1985.1384.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. La Meije and Breche De La Meije, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AI 488 (2). 15.2x11.2" silver print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 12x16.5" brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 488 / AI. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: 488/AI.

Oversize print of La Meije
La Meije is 3,984 m 13,071 feet with a prominence of 2,694 ft.; it is a mountain in the Massif des Ecrins range, located at the border of the Hautes-Alpes and Isere departements. It overlooks the nearby village of La Grave, a mountaineering center and ski resort, well known for its off-site and extreme skiing possibilities; and dominates the view west of the Col du Lautaret. It is the second highest mountain of the Ecrins after the Barre des Ecrins.
Breche de la Mejie is 3,300 m 10,827 ft.

Vittorio Sella lived during the Golden Age of European mountain exploration when many peaks were being scaled for the first time. Prior to his era, mountains were mostly regarded as dangerous obstacles to be crossed, haunted by evil spirits. The early nineteenth century saw a dramatic shift in people's perception of mountains, heralded by the Romantic poets who lauded them as "palaces of nature" that embodied the eternal. To Wordsworth and others of the Romantic era, alpine pinnacles became symbols of the heights to which the imagination of man could aspire, toward the unattainable goals of understanding infinity, eternity, and the vastness of God. It was no accident that the beginnings of mountaineering as a sport coincided with the recognition that mountains were, in fact, beautiful. And the development of photography coincided with that very moment in the history of natural philosophy which has been called the "era of moralized mountaineering". This ushered in a sudden interest in landscape and natural scenery, along with poetry, painting, photography, and the art of travel as people sought out the heightened emotions brought about by a full experience of Nature.

1. Fair: 2 5/8" piece of upper R corner of backing missing; all corners of print slightly tattered; 2, 1/4" tears in R edge of print.

2. Fair: All corners of backing tattered: 2 1/4" on upper L, 3" on lower L, 1/2" on lower R; 1x1/4" piece missing from upper edge of backing; 1" tear on R edge of backing and into print; multiple pinholes all around backing; 489 on lower L edge of print; upper quarter of print somewhat abraded.