1. VITTORIO SELLA. Game of Polo from Indus Valley, Polo at Parkutta, 1909, Sella number HK 35. 11.4x15.4" gelatin silver print, printed c. 1909, mounted on 14x18" heavy brown paper. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Game of Polo from Indus Valley / HK 35

It was grand undertaking led by the Duke of the Abruzzi Luigi Amedeo di Savoia, the son of King Amadeus of Italy. Polo games were played at a number of spots.

At four o'clock in the afternoon a game of polo was organized in honor of the Duke. Twelve players took part . . . The origin of the game is certainly remote. It seems to have been common at the court of the Mogols. Then the tradition was lost in India, and only kept up at Manipur . . . The English of Calcutta learned the game in Manipur, and were so attracted by its fine and manly qualities that they made it their own and have diffused it throughout the world." KARAKORAM & WESTERN HIMALAYA 1909 BY FILIPPO DE FILIPPI. NY DUTTON 1912 p. 122

2. VITTORIO SELLA Srinigar, Capital of Kashmir. Mohammedan Temple, 1909, Sella number HK 391. 11.2x15.3" gelatin silver print, printed c. 1909, mounted on 14x18" heavy brown paper. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Srinigar, Capital of Kashmir. / perf. (HS 460) Mohammedan Temple / HK 291. Inscribed in red ink verso: Mohameddan Temple

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. HK 35 Excellent: Minor wear, edge wear, mount has worn corners and mount verso has tape residue.
2. HK 291 Excellent: Minor wear, edge wear, mount has worn corners and mount verso has tape residue.