#PA78
1949
Octavo album (ca. 23,5x16,5 cm). 27 card stock leaves (5 blank), some with tissue guards. 75 mounted and three loosely inserted original gelatin silver photographs. With two larger ones ca. 11,5x17,5 cm (4 ¾ x 7 in) and the rest ca. 8,5x11,5 cm (3 ½ x 4 ½ in). No captions. Period custom-made brown full sheep album fastened with a string; front board with a gilt-lettered title “Expedicion Chachani 1949” and blind-stamped, hand-painted image of mountain Chachani & coats of arms of Peru and Arequipa. The paste-down of the front cover with Max Quesada’s yellow ink presentation inscription and signature: “A mi amigo y compañero en la Expedición al Chachani. Arequipa, Año Nuevo 1950;” also with Quesada’s gilt-lettered name. Binding slightly rubbed on extremities, but overall a very good album of interesting strong photos.
An attractive, historically interesting album thoroughly documenting a 1949 mountaineering expedition to Mt. Chachani (6,057 meters) in Southern Peru's Arequipa region. The album was compiled by one Max Quesada, who presented it as a New Year gift to his friend and fellow expedition member in 1950.
The album features seventy-eight gelatin silver photographs of the expedition, with about sixty images showing the mountaineers in various settings on the mountain. The mountaineers are portrayed using what appears to be a wireless radio transceiver, lying on the ground & receiving medical treatment, posing with firearms at campsites, warming by a fireplace, wearing Peruvian hats, enjoying meals and drinks, resting in their tents & sleeping, surveying surroundings through binoculars, traversing mountain paths, riding loaded horses, shouldering backpacks, ascending snowy mountain slopes & wearing goggles, taking breaks during the climb, etc. Several interesting photographs portray expedition members, possibly in the company of local officials, after completing their ascent. The rest of the images mainly showcase views of Mt. Chachani's snowy peaks from different angles. Overall, a historically interesting, well-documented album of a 1949 mountaineering expedition to the Peruvian Andes.
