1. VITTORIO SELLA. Mt. Stanley from Mt. Baker, 1906, Sella number R 115. 11.2x15.1" gelatin silver print, c. 1907, on 13x16.5" heavy brown paper. Inscribed in ink verso Ruwenzori / in ink and pencil Mt. Stanley from Mt. Baker / in pencil / 115 / p. 200 / R I 115.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Mt. Stanley-Mt. Baker, 1906, Sella number R 127. 11.3x15.2" gelatin silver print, c. 1907, on 13x16.5" heavy brown paper. Inscribed in pencil verso: twice Mt. Stanley - Mt. Baker / 127.

Two glorious views of the high peaks and clouds of the Rwenzori.

By 1906, Vittorio Sella by was not only the world's leading landscape and mountaineering photographer he was also one of the leading climbers of his time. At 5'6" he was what we now call an elite athlete, carrying his cumbersome equipment on numerous climbs in all seasons, making many first ascents world-wide while finding time and viewpoints for his transcendent images. When he began to photograph in the 1870s Sella mastered the wet plate process, then the dry plate process. He regularly photographed altitudes far higher than anyone in the world. Like Ansel Adams and Carleton Watkins, he was both a legendary technician and print maker as well as a modern artist with his intent to make and exhibit prints in gallery, contests and exhibitions and interpret of the Mountain landscape as descriptive and emotive experiences, as art. The Collodion Silver paper he used had a richness not seen in American papers and in the 1890s he began making rich black and white gelatin silver prints. The European photographers had access to richer and more modern papers 20 years before American artists. He like William Henry Jackson was attracted to multi-plate panoramic views to capture the entirety of a mount range and glacial valley and made some of the most beautiful prints in this style in the History of Photography.

Mt. Baker lies to the east in the rough triangle of the Rwenzori Range, with Mt. Speke to the north and Mt Stanley to the west.

Ngaliema/Mt. Stanley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has twin summits, the highest Magherita Peak at 5109 m. (16,673 ft.) and Alexandra Peak 5091 m (16,703 feet). The minor summits are Savoia Peak 4977 m (16,330 feet). Kiyanja/Mt. Baker (Edward Peak) aka Grauer's Rock 4844 m 15,892 ft.

1. R 115 Excellent minor wear, corner wear, mount has corner wear edge wear and tape verso.
2. R 127 Very Good, corner wears and slight tears lower left, mount has heavy corner wear, edge wear and tape verso.