Travel
[NOEL, Captain John.]
A Collection of Stereoscopic Views.
[1924]. 53 sterescopic views, most mounted on card and with typed captions on reverse, each pair size: approx 140 by 77 mm, some slight fraying and signs of age, one image obscured by soiling, some minor soiling on a few other images, nevertheless most in remarkable condition. One image is captioned "Photo by Capt. J.B. Noel, F.R.G.S. official photographer to the Everest Expedition 1924", several others are also captioned "Photo Capt Noel."
Noel was a pioneering explorer of Tibet and Nepal as well as the official photographer for George Leigh Mallory's attempts to conquer Everest and there are several wonderful images of mountains and climbs in progress (most uncaptioned) but one has "Photo Capt Noel" and "Mount Everest, a curious snow formation due to the action of high winds", captioned at rear, these almost certainly relate to the tragic 1924 expedition, in which Mallory and his fellow climber Andrew Irvine perished. Another important image is captioned "Porter starting to climb the North Col by a rope ladder previously fixed by Dr Somerville. This "col" is a ridge of ice joining two peaks and was finally adopted as the most hopeful route to the summit ". This would appear to refer to the events of June 1924 , when Dr Howard Somervell in the company of Col. Edward Norton first attempted to reach the peak. Unfortunately they were beaten back by altitude sickness. On 6th June, Mallory and Irvine with eight porters, left North Col, using the same route as Somervell, in a last ditch attempt to reach the summit before the weather changed. However it ended in tragedy and the rest is history. Also included in the collection are numerous images of Noel's travels through Tibet, Nepal, India and the Pacific. They are a remarkable collection of very striking images covering a variety of scenes, including include fire-eaters, Tibetan monks, royal elephants and local ceremonies. An extremely rare collection by a remarkable photographer.
Price: £ 17000
US Dollar Price: $ 25170
Stock Number: 42014