THE ASCENT OF MOUNT ST. ELIAS [ALASKA] BY H.R.H. PRINCE LUIGI AMEDEO DI SAVOIA, DUKE OF THE ABRUZZI. London, 1900, 1st edition. 241 pp, 34 plates, ills, maps. TEG. Photos by Sella, etc. A magnificent book, the finest on any North American climb. This expeditions succeeded in the first ascent of St. Elias. In the original green cloth, slightly faded overall, but still handsome, Near Fine condition. All copies of this book need binding repair as the original Gutta Percha glue that bound them has dried out in the last 100 years. This copy has been sewn with a conventional binding, and has new endpapers, and from the outside no repair is visible. The spine is darkened, and has some chips at the bottom. There is some light foxing, some on the title page, but almost none on the text or plates. Overall Very Good.
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. Vittorio owed his interest in the mountains to his uncle, Quintino, founder of the Alpine Club of Italy.
