The Exploration Of The Caucasus. With Illustrations By Vittorio Sella.

1896. London & New York, Edward Arnold, 1896. Two volumes, 4to. Original two-tone green buckram, gilt-decorated boards, lettered in gilt to upper covers and spines, top edges gilt, remainder untrimmed; pp. xxiii, 278; x, 295; photogravure frontispiece to each volume, 79 full-page illustrations, mostly photogravures, 3 large folding panoramic views, numerous illustrations to text, 3 maps (2 of which folding) and one large folding map to rear pocket of volume II; fading to spines, as usual, occasional foxing,otherwise a very good set with Rugby Schppl bookplates inside front covers. First edition. This encyclopaedic work on the Caucasus Range by one of the foremost mountain explorers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries brings together previous knowledge of this region. The photographs, which include the well-known dramatic picture of Ushba, the "Matterhorn of the Caucasus", are by the mountain photographer, Vittorio Sella, who made expeditions to the Caucasus in 1889. Freshfield was president of the Alpine Club (1893-95) and of the Royal Geographical Society (1914-17) and achieved a high reputation as a geographer. He was a pioneer in the Alps and Himalayas, but his book on the Caucasus was unique and remains one of the best works on the higher altitude regions of the Caucasus. Classics in Moutaineering 44; Neate F64.