1. VITTORIO SELLA. Monte Rosa and Zumsteinspitze, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVII 162. 11.3x15" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 24x18" grey board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps Monte Rosa and 162 Zumsteinspitze AVII; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: This is same as usual size #164/ except the 2 men; Inscribed in blue pencil: 162/ AVII.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Monte Rosa and Zumsteinspitze, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVII 164. 11.3x15" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 16 3/8x12 1/8" heavy brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 164. Monte Rosa and Zumsteinspitze; Inscribed in pencil: A; Inscribed in blue pencil: VII; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; Stamped in ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Stella - Biella.

Monte Rosa is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps. It is between Italy's (Piedmont and Aosta Valley) and Switzerland's (Valais). Monte Rosa is the second highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe, after Mont Blanc.

The Zumsteinspitze (Punta Zumstein in Italian) (4,563 m) is a peak in the Pennine Alps on the border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a subpeak of Monte Rosa.

Vittorio Sella (1859-1943) began serious mountain climbing and photography when he was a teenager mastering the wet plate technique and making panoramas by 1880. By 1879 he began to use dry plates and in 1880 began a series of winter views in the Alps. Every holiday, summer and winter, Sella was in the nearby mountains, often carrying an old photographic apparatus that had belonged to his father.

He climbed and photographed in the Alps annually, making the first winter ascents of a number or prominent peaks including the Matterhorn in 1882 and the first winter hike across Mont Blanc in 1884. His panoramas were up to 12 plates and 360 degrees. Photography and mountain climbing were family affairs, and most climbs would be with his brother Erminio, a couple of other companions, and guides including Daniel Maquignaz and later his photographic assistant Emile Bota.

Along with being a mountaineer and photographer, Sella was also an energetic businessman. In 1886 he formed a bank, Gaudenzio Sella & Co., with three of his brothers and three cousins (as of 1999, "The Sella Group"). In 1899 he and his family started a modern viticulture program (vineyard) in Sardinia, known today as "Sella & Mosca." His other business venture was the distribution, exhibition, and sale of his mountain views. Like other large format photographers of the time - William Henry Jackson, Carleton Watkins, Bisson Freres, Roger Fenton, the Alinari Brothers, and Samuel Bourne - Sella produced a catalog of mountaineering photographs that numbered 100 views in 1882. By 1888 that number had grown to 534. Sella had a field and studio assistant named Emile Bota. He preferred to manage his own distribution. Later he worked with Spooners in London from 1882 to 1917 and when Spooner died, he moved his work to Sifton Praed. His photographs were exhibited widely in climbing, geographical, and exploration clubs and societies throughout Eurasia and North America. In the United States, the Appalachian Mountain sets were shown at over 100 venues in the 1890s and 1900s.

This sale of lots from this auction will directly benefit the Appalachian Mountain Club Trails Protection Fund; Conservation Research and Climate Action; and the Modernization and Preservation of the AMC Library and Archives.

1. 162 Fair: Rub marks, white areas edges, spots, abrasions, dirt, corner and edge wear with small emulsion losses. Mount has marks and dirt, edge and corner wear.

2. 164 Good: Mild abrasions, minor wear, scratches, corner wear and edge wear. Mount has edge and corner wear, missing corners, dirt and marks.