1. VITTORIO SELLA. Aiguilles Dorees, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIII 1536. 11.4x15.5" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 12x17" brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 1536. / Aiguilles Dorees; inscribed in blue pencil: A III; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; Stamped in black ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Fenetre De Salynaz, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIII 1537. 11.4x15.4" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 12.1x15.9" heavy gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Fenetre de Saleynaz / 1537 / AIII; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Loan 41; inscribed in blue pencil: 1537/AIII.

3. VITTORIO SELLA. Aiguilles Du Tour, from the highest platform of the Trient Glacier, 10,322 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIII 1538. 11.3x15.3" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 12.3x16.4" brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 1538 / Auiguilles du Tour / from Trient Glacier; inscribed in pencil: 1538; inscribed in blue pencil: A III; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; Stamped in black ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella.

Sella lived in an era when geographical societies, exploration and mountaineering clubs, and mercantile (research) libraries proliferated in many towns and cities. The Sella family had helped found the Italian Alpine Club in 1863; a European equivalent of the AMC co-founded in 1876 by Charles E. Fay. The Alpine Club fraternity was a small, international network modeled after the first club of its type founded in London in 1857. Members corresponded with each other, sharing publications and information about guides, porters, and climbs in foreign lands. Such clubs provided scientific, ethnographic, and intellectual materials that were a valuable cultural asset for professionals and amateur enthusiasts alike. In their lecture's photographers, naturalists, explorers, and artists often used photographs and printed illustrations as a means of disseminating information about the latest artistic and scientific ventures.

1. 1536 Good: Minor edge and corner wear, abrasions, rub marks and dirt. Mount has torn and missing corners and edges, fragile.

2. 1537 Good: Minor edge and corner wear, abrasions, rub marks and dirt discoloration. Mount has edge and corner wear marks.

3. 1538 Good to Fair: Edge and corner wear, several harsh abrasions on upper quarter of print; small bump in middle left of print, dirt and rubmarks. Mount has edge and corner wear marks.