Collection of 14 albumen print stereoviews on publisher's orange card mounts with pink versos, ca. 1879-86. All by J.J. Reilly (1834-1893) as part of his "Views of American Scenery" series, except for one stereoview that is otherwise noted below. 

After taking images of Niagara Falls from 1866-70, Reilly established himself as a photographer in California, shooting Yosemite and its tourists from 1870-75, opening a studio in San Francisco around 1875, then working in Marysville from 1879-86, most likely when these images were taken. He moved back to San Francisco in 1886, after abandoning his wife and business, and continued to capture photographs until he committed suicide in 1893. 

A rugged survey of the high-altitude wilderness of the Sierra Nevada, captured by pioneer landscape photographer John J. Reilly during his exploratory campaigns across the upper Tuolumne watershed and the backcountry surrounding Yosemite Valley. Reilly, an Irish immigrant who established a seasonal darkroom tent in Yosemite, was among the few early cameramen willing to pack delicate collodion wet-plate equipment into the wind-swept, roadless alpine heights above the valley rim.

The collection focuses extensively on glacial topography, alpine tarns, and granitic summits, including dramatic perspectives of Mount Hoffmann, sweeping looks across the Cathedral Range, Cathedral Peak's jagged spires, weathered timberline foxtail pines clinging to boulder fields, rushing mountain cascades, and sweeping glacial moraines. Notable views include expansive lake vistas reflecting the high crests, sharp studies of polished granite aprons, and deep chasms dropping down to the forested lowlands.

Reilly's High Sierra views represent an essential chapter in the photographic exploration of the American West, pushing beyond standard tourist viewpoints into the austere, glacially carved wilderness of the Sierra crest. 

Views include: 

1. No. 335 Tuolumne River, Sierras, Cal. Modern pencil notation to mount verso identifies this shot to be near Rode Springs. 

2. No. 412 Cathedral Cascades, Sierras, Cal. 

3. No 430. Summit of Mt. Hoffman, Sierras, Cal. Title in negative. 

4. No. 427 The Lyall Group, Sierras, Cal. 

5. No. 417 Cathedral Pass, Sierras, Cal. 

6. No. 422 Outside View of the Volcano at Mono Lake, Sierras, Cal. 

7. No. 426 Mount Dana, Sierras, Cal. 

8. No. 428 Tuolumne Rapids, Sierras, Cal. 

9. No. 416 Crater of the Volcano at Mono Lake, Sierras, Cal. 

10. No. 257 Hoffman Tower, Sierras, Cal. 

11. No. 337 Red Castle, Sierras, Cal. 

12. No. 442. Mono Pass, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Stockton, California: J.J. Reilly & J.P. Spooner. Imprint to mount recto. 

13. No. 430 Summit of Mount Hoffman, Sierras, Cal. 

14. No. 431 Head Waters of the Tuolumne, Sierras, Cal. Modern pencil notation to mount verso reads: "Tuolumne Co. Yosemite / Nat / Park 1870's."

[John J. Reilly, J.J. Reilly, Yosemite, High Sierra, Tuolumne County, Mount Hoffmann, Cathedral Peak, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Glacial Geology, Alpine Lakes, Stereoviews, California Photography, Landscape Photography, 1870s]

Very good conditon. The prints exhibit warm brown tones with strong contrast. Mounts remain flat and sturdy with minor expected handling wear, faint edge rubbing, and soft corner bumping.