LORRIA (August) and Oscar ECKENSTEIN. The Alpine Portfolio. The Pennine Alps, from the Simplon to the Great St. Bernard. s.l., the authors, [1889]. 2 folio volumes (410 x 320 mm), together 100 plates and a text booklet, in half chagrin folders with corner flaps, gilt title to spine. One side flap detached on volume I (publisher's binding). First edition, printed at 160 copies, of this important collection of alpine photographs by William Donkin (35 views), Vittorio Sella (17 views), Mrs Main [Elizabeth Le Blond] (5 views), Louis Kurz (5 views), Jules Beck (7 views), Xavier Imfeld (7 views), Paul Güssfeldt (14 views), James Eccles (3 views) and Howardt Barret (7 views). Special copy with handwritten letter from Oscar Eckentein to William Martin Conway dated 14 October 1891. The collection includes 100 very fine plates printed in heliotype on strong card and captioned in pencil, representing views of the Pennine Alps, as well as a 33-page booklet containing a preface and the captions to the illustrations. Oscar Johannes Ludwig Eckenstein (Canonbury 1859 - Oving 1921), the son of a German socialist who emigrated to England, was an Austrian mountaineer who made numerous ascents, including the first ascent of the Stecknadelhorn in the Valais Alps on 8 August 1887 with Matthias Zurbriggen and the first ascent of Mont Brouillard in the Mont Blanc massif on 10 July 1906 with Karl Blodig and guide Alexis Brocherel; He also made the first ascent of Popocatepelt and attempted K2 with the controversial Aleister Crowley. Trained as an engineer, he was responsible for many innovations in mountaineering equipment, including 10-point crampons and a short ice axe. An exceptional copy of this magnificent and very rare album of photographs of the Monte Rosa and Matterhorn massifs. Perret, 2690 - ACL p. 194 - CAS p. 412 - CAI p. 43 - Giuseppe Garimoldi, Fotografia e alpinismo, Priuli e Verlucca, 1995 (pp. 85-87)