1. VITTORIO SELLA. Dente Blanche. Panorama from the snow arete of the Rothhorn, 13,120 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVI 135. 11.2x15.1" collodion print, printed c. 1893 mounted on 12.1x16.7" brown board. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / 135_ Dente Blanche / VI; inscribed in pencil mount verso: Loan 59; inscribed in blue pencil mount verso: M.K.; Stamped in black ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Weisshorn and Schalhorn, from the snow arete of the Rothhorn ,13,120 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVI 138. 11.3x15.3" collodion print, printed c. 1893 mounted on 12.1x16.7" brown borad. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Weisshorn and Schalhorn / VI; inscribed in pencil mount verso: Loan 53 [circled]; Stamped in black ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Sella - Biella.

Sella created the greatest exhibition of his career, the February 1893 Geographical Exhibition of Turin, where his prints won the Grand Gold Medal and Diploma of Honour. The exhibition was organized around his photo-essays of geographic sub-regions. The first eleven sections featured topographic views of the Alps, the twelfth section was on Mt. Etna, and the thirteenth and fourteenth sections contained ethnographic and topographic views of the Caucasus. From Turin the exhibition traveled to Boston where it was exhibited and purchased by the Appalachian Mountain club. After being exhibited at the AMC and the Boston Arts Club in 1893, the prints traveled to New England and for the next 12 years circulated in various forms throughout the United States. In 1897, Sella, on his way to Alaska, saw an exhibition of his prints in Portland hosted by the Mazamas Club. After 1910 the prints were exhibited only sporadically. This lot is the original exhibition print.

Sella lived in an era when geographical societies, exploration and mountaineering clubs, and mercantile (research) libraries proliferated in many towns and cities. The Sella family had helped found the Italian Alpine Club in 1863; a European equivalent of the AMC co-founded in 1876 by Charles E. Fay. The Alpine Club fraternity was a small, international network modeled after the first club of its type founded in London in 1857. Members corresponded with each other, sharing publications and information about guides, porters, and climbs in foreign lands. Such clubs provided scientific, ethnographic, and intellectual materials that were a valuable cultural asset for professionals and amateur enthusiasts alike. In their lecture's photographers, naturalists, explorers, and artists often used photographs and printed illustrations as a means of disseminating information about the latest artistic and scientific ventures.

1. 135 Good: Moderate wear, dirt and abrasions, scratches in sky, other small marks on print, mount has much wear, corners and edges torn, marks tears and is dirty.

2. 138 Good to Fair: Rub marks, spots, abrasions, dirt, corner and edge wear with small emulsion loss along left edge of print. Mount is fragile with marks and dirt throughout and is torn along edges and corners.