London, 1912, 1st edition. 469 pp, 36 plates, including 2nd volume of plates, panoramas and maps, photos by Vittorio Sella. Considered by many to be the most sought after book on Himalayan mountaineering. The Duke made an attempt on K2 in May 1909, accompanied by guides and porters from Courmayeur, Italy. They reached 6250m on the SE or Abruzzi Ridge but were turned back by the difficulty of the route. The expedition explored, mapped and photographed the Baltoro Glacier area.
Vittorio Sella [1859 - 1943]
He was the Italian alpinist and photographer who accompanied the 1906 Abruzzi Rwenzori expedition and who was perhaps the greatest of all alpine photographers. It was Sella who first recorded the landscape, plants and people of the Rwenzori in extensive and intimate detail, and to whom we refer for clarity of the historical record and pure artistic beauty. It is particularly interesting to note how far the glaciers of the Rwenzori have receded since these photographs were taken, nearly 90 years ago. Vittorio Sella was born in Biella, Italy, to father who was a successful textile industrialist and scientist ad who, in 1856, had been the first Italian to write a treatise on photography.
