1. VITTORIO SELLA. Crevasses and Seracs, towards Tete Blanche gift of Anna Chace, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AV 398. 11.1x14.7" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 16 1/2x13" heavy mottled/textured brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: A-V 398; inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Crevasses + Seracs / Toward Tete Blanche / 170 / V398.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Matterhorn and Mischabelhorner, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AV 422. 11.2x15.1" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 16 1/2x13" grey board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps Matterhorn and Mischabelhorner V422; inscribed in pencil on mount verso: illegible.

3. VITTORIO SELLA. Matterhorn, from the summit of Chateau des Dames, 11,992 feet, fading, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AV 416. 22.3x16.9" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 17 3/4x23 3/4" heavy brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 416. Matterhorn, from the summit of Chateau des Dames 11992 ft.; inscribed in pencil: AV; Stamped in ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Stella - Biella.

4. VITTORIO SELLA. Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, from Col des Grandes Murailles, at 13,120 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AV 423. 16.3x22.3" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 18x24" grey board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, from 423 Col des Grandes Murailles, at 13,120 feet AV; inscribed in pencil on mount verso: 423 / AV.

Vittorio Sella (1859-1943) was the leading large-format mountaineering photographer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, renowned for his spectacular high-altitude photographs of glacial floes, peaks, and valleys. Sella traveled the world, photographing in the European Alps, the Caucasus, Mt. Saint Elias (Alaska Yukon Border), and the Himalayan Sikkim. In the early 1900s he photographed mountains in the Africa Ruwanzari and the Himalayan Karakoram.

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. 398 Very Good, mild abrasions, spots, marks, dirt, edge and corner wear. Mount has edge and corner wear, dirt and marks.

2. 422 F Good, mild abrasions, spots, marks, dirt, edge and corner wear. Mount has edge and corner wear and missing pieces, dirt and marks.

3. 416 Fair: Print is very light, with marks dirt, line 8 1/2", 2", and 2, 1 1/2" vertical creases in print on upper L quadrant of print. Mount has missing corners and edges, dirt and marks and is fragile.

4. 423 Fair to Poor: heavy rubmarks, abrasions, edge and corner wear. Mount has edge and corner wear, dirt and marks.