The Property of a New England Family

SELLA, VITTORIO

A remarkable archive of approximately fifty autograph letters signed by the great alpinist and photographer Vittorio Sella (with a few receipts for photographs sold, etc.), addressed to Charles E. Fay, the eminent American alpinist and educator, who was the first President of the American Alpine Club and the co-founder of the Appalachian Mountain Club. Various locations, 1902-1927. Approximately 150 pages in total, variously in English and Italian (which Fay, a founder of the Modern Language Association of America, read fluently). Usual folds, some paper slightly brittle but generally excellent condition, two or three of the letters possibly incomplete; together with Charles Fay's collection of Vittorio Sella's photographs, inventoried below.

Sella (1859-1943) was a pioneer in the field of photography and an exceptionally skilled mountaineer. His images, both of his native Alps and those taken on the various major expeditions he accompanied, are still regarded as among the finest mountain photographs of all time. Most were taken on large glass plates, and the logistics entailed in carrying his equipment through remote and difficult terrain involved considerable ingenuity on his part. That he would have been friendly with Charles Fay, who was then at the peak of the American climbing world, and himself a nonpareil alpinist with many first ascents to his name, is unsurprising.

The photographs included in the group are as follows:

Two extraordinary mounted stereo pairs of Everest and the Everest group taken by Sella with a telephoto lens from about 80 miles distant, apparently annotated in his hand and signed; five approximately 4 x 6 inch photographs of the 1912 Duke of the Abruzzi's expedition to the Karakoram Himalaya; a superb 8 x 10 inch image by Sella from the Rwenzori, and another of Chogolisa ("Bride Peak"), with the glass plate negative; an 11 x 15 1/2 inch image by Sella from Sella and Freshfield Exploration of the Caucasus, framed; large glassplate negatives of the Matterhorn and St. Elias apparently by Sella; approximately ten snaller grass plate negatives; approximately a dozen small early prints (circa 1900) of Ruwenzori, Mt. St. Elias etc.; six larger-format images on card mounts, possibly by Sella; and approximately ten other mountaineering images (mostly 8 x 10 inches or smaller) by other hands.