1. VITTORIO SELLA. Aiguilles Vertes, Du Plan, and Du Dru, from the summit of Aiguille du Midi, at 12,600 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIII 143. 11.3x15.2" collodion print, printed c 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 13x16.5" heavy gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Aiguilles Vertes, du Plan, and du Dru, from summit of Aiguille du Midi, at 12600 ft. / III 143; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink: 143; inscribed in pencil: AIII; inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Loan 36.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Dent Du Geant, from the summit of Mont Mallet, (Aiguille Marbree), at 10,894 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIII 146. 16.7x22.6" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 19x25.5" heavy brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: No. 146. [pasted on paper label] / Il Dente del Gigante.; inscribed in pencil: A III; inscribed in ink: AIII; stamped in black ink: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink: 146. Inscribed in ink on mount verso: Alps; inscribed in blue pencil: BK.

3. VITTORIO SELLA. Mont Blanc, from northwest ridge of Dent du Geant below the Auguille Noire, (large size), torn and vintage repair, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIII 148. 16.8x22.6" silver print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 22x26.5" heavy gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Mont Blanc from northwest ridge of Dent du / 148 / Geant below the Aiguille Noire / A III; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink on mount verso: Alps / Mt. Blanc; inscribed in blue pencil: 148/A III.

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.
Elizabeth Denio, an AMC member, wrote about this in a Club Report: "The notable events of the year in the Department of Art have been the exhibition of the Sella Collection of Alpine and Caucasian photographs, and the purchase of the same by subscription for the Club.Just as Ansel Adams grew up in Yosemite, Vittorio Sella was raised as a mountain climber and photographer in the Italian Alps.Without doubt this collection, numbering some five hundred subjects, is one of the largest and finest ever seen in America. They differ from most mountain photographs in being largely taken from extremely high points, and in this, as in their superb technique, testify to Mr. Sella's skill both as a mountaineer and as a photographer. Several form panoramas: others are details of the upper portions of high mountains; and all combine to present a marvelous world of snow and ice, of crag and crevasse, of regions lonely, vast, and most fascinating. Old travelers quite familiar with the Alps thrill again as they see these pictures, and recall experiences in the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, or Mont Rosa; all behold a hitherto unknown world of sublimity and beauty in the Caucasian mountains, while delighting in the infinite gradations of color, the magnificent cloud effects, the marvels of rock-structure in these perfect reproductions of Nature."

1. 143 Fair: Abrasions in emulsion sky area, other edge corner wear. Mount has marks dirt edge and corner wear.

2. 146 Fair: Abrasions, scrtches in emulsion sky area, other edge corner wear. Mount has marks dirt edge and corner wear.

3. 148 Fair to poor: Abrasions in emulsion sky area, other edge corner wear. Mount has marks dirt edge and corner wear. Significant horizontal crease across entire print on upper half; 2 1/4" tear in upper edge of print; 2 1/2" crease in upper L corner of print; 1/2" tear in R edge of print; multiple worn areas on upper half of print. Mount has marks dirt edge and corner wear.