BOCCALATTE (Gabriele). Piccole et grande ore alpine. Milan, Stab. Grafico & Rotoc. Ripalta, 1939. In-8°, publisher's illustrated soft cover. Rare first edition, with hors-texte illustrations. Accounts of races between 1932 and 1939, compiled by Nini Petrasanta and published after the author's death. Gabriele Boccalatte (1907-1938) was an excellent Italian mountaineer; he took part in several attempts on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, and made the first ascent of the West Face of the Noire de Peuterey as well as the ascent of the pillar that bears his name on the Mont-Blanc du Tacul. He died accidentally during an attempt to climb the south-west face of Triolet. Also included: - RATTI (Achile): Scritti alpinistici del sacerdote dottor Achille Ratti (ora S. S. Pio Papa XI). Milan, Bertieri & Vanzetti, 1923. In-4°, paperback. First Italian edition, printed in 2,800 numbered copies to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Milan meeting of the Italian Alpine Club (No. 2227). Illustrated with a portrait and 12 hors-texte illustrations. Achille Ratti (Desio 1857 - Vatican 1939), an excellent mountaineer in his youth, made the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1890 via the Aiguilles Grises route, which became the normal route from Courmayeur. He became Pope under the name of Pius XI in 1922. In 1929, he signed the Lateran Accords, which restored the Vatican's territorial independence. - BERSEZIO (Lorenzo) and TIRONE (Piero): Monte Bianco. Nel castello di neve e di ghiacio. Turin, C. D. A., 1982. Small in-4°, bound in publisher's cloth with illustrated dust jacket. First edition, illustrated with colour photographs and black and white sketches. Illustrated topo-guide to ski tours in the Mont Blanc massif. - WYSS-NIEDERER (Arthur) : San Gottardo. Via Helvetica. Lausanne, Ovaphil, 1980. In-4°, publisher's binding with illustrated dust jacket. First edition, illustrated with numerous black and colour reproductions. Set of 4 books in Italian on mountaineering and the Alps.