1. VITTORIO SELLA. Pelvoux, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AI 504. 11.4x15.6" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 12.25x16.5" brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 504. Peloux; inscribed in blue pencil: AI. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Les Ecrins. From Pic Coolidge, 12,327 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AI 507. 11.3x15.2" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 12.9x16.5" heavy gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Les Ecrins, etc. from Pic Coolidge; I 507. Inscribed in pencil on print recto: I507 / AI; inscribed in ink: 507. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner.

3. VITTORIO SELLA. Pelvoux and Tuckett Refuge, from the Hut, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AI 511. 11.1x15.2" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 13x16.5" heavy gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Pelvoux and Tuckett Refuge from the Hut / I511. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Loan 28 / A-1/511.

Mount Pelvous is 3,946 m 12,946 ft.

Barre Des Ecrins 4,102 m 13,458 ft, 2045 m 6,709 prominence. The first cartographers (Captain Durand in August 1828) and mountaineers who arrived in the region then considered Pelvoux as the highest point of the massif, and therefore of the country (Savoy not being French). Discovered late in the 19th century and initially called Pointe des Arsines, the Barre des Ecrins owes its name to an error by cartographers, who confused the summit with a rocky ridge (barrou des escrins). In 1861, Edward Whymper arrived in the valley with the ambition to climb the highest peak. According to locals, cartographers had climbed Pelvoux and discovered a higher summit. Edward Whymper therefore also climbed Pelvoux to identify this mountain.

Beautiful vignettes of the glaciers and peaks in the French Alps. The Alps to Sella were like a playground as Yosemite was to Ansel Adams, a place of familiarity from years of constant hiking.

Sella worked in all four seasons and under the most difficult circumstances, documenting the highest regions of the earth with extraordinary artistry. Ansel Adams paid tribute to Sella's greatness in a 1946 article for the Sierra Club Bulletin when he wrote, "with Sella's sensitive insight and response the magnificence of mountains is distilled into a high order of expression".

1. Good: Moderate wear, some dirt, dent in middle R edge of print. Mount is fragile with tears, missing pieces, marks and dirt; 1 1/2" vertical black line on top center of print; bubbling under print in lower R quadrant; print fairly dirty.

2. Good: Moderate wear and abrasions edges left side, other small marks on print, mount has much wear, corners torn, marks tears and is dirty.

3. Good: Moderate wear, dirt and marks, lower R corner of missing 1/4; water spot on lower L edge of print; part of dark fingerprint on top middle of print; bubbling under upper R of print; Mount has heavy wear, edge and corner fraying and is dirty.