1. VITTORIO SELLA. Southern Valleys (Ingur): Herdsmen and their hut in the Zena Glen, c. 1889-1890, Sella number CVI 864. 4.6x7.6" collodion print, printed c. 1892-1893, mounted on 8.1x11" heavy brown board. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; 864 inscribed in negative. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 864. / Herdsmen and their hut in the Zena Glen; in pencil: CVI. Stamped in black ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella. Alternate published title is Dwellers in the Wilderness.
2. VITTORIO SELLA. Southern Valleys (Ingur): Goats in Zena Glen, c. 1889-1890, Sella number CVI 865. 4.6x7.5" collodion print, printed c. 1892-1893, mounted on 8.1x11" heavy brown board. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; 865 inscribed in negative. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 865. / Goats in Zena Glen; in pencil: CVI. Stamped in black ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella.

The 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.

Sella was not only a Master of Landscape Photography but also of portraiture. His portraits of the various peoples of the Caucasus--a cross-roads of civilization-- have the compelling power of character as also seen in the environmental portraits August Sander mastered in the 20th century.
His groundbreaking works of art from the Alps, the Caucasus, Africa, Alaska, and the Himalayas influenced Victorian aesthetics, and furthered scientific studies in the fields of anthropology, cartography, meteorology, and botany, and currently are used extensively in studies of glacial retreat.

1. 864 Excellent: mild wear overall, some heavier scratches across center of print. Mount somewhat dirty.
2. 865 Fair: moderate wear overall; some small areas of heavy abrasion, including three small spots missing layer of emulsion. Mount somewhat dirty; lower L corner missing; some water damage on left side.