[PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS] Northern Japan [and] Southern Japan

[Yokohama : Stillfried & Andersen, 1876-1885]. Pair of nineteenth-century photograph albums, in identical large folio format (360 x 470 mm), in original matching bindings of gilt-ruled half morocco over brown pebbled cloth, the upper boards with gilt-stamped titles ‘Northern Japan’ and ‘Southern Japan’ (scuffed, worn at corners), spines in compartments with ornate gilt decoration; all edges gilt; the respective albums containing [47] (Northern Japan) and [40] (Southern Japan) albumen print photographs in uniform 220 x 280 mm format, mounted recto and verso of thick card leaves, all with Stillfried & Andersen’s manuscript caption and serial number in the negative; across the two albums, the photographs are in excellent condition, the prints consistently strong and with good tonal range; both albums with foxing to the endpapers and the outermost mounts, and some occasional marginal spotting, otherwise remarkably clean throughout.

A superb pair of albums with a total of 87 large format topographical views of Japan by the photographic partnership of Baron Raimund von Stillfried and Hermann Andersen. Also known as the Japan Photographic Association, the firm was founded in Yokohama in 1876 and operated until 1885.

The subjects (as spelled in the captions) include Fusiyama, Tokio, Yokohama, Ikegami, Uyeno, Shiba, Daibutz (Great Buddha of Kamakura), Nikko, Imaichi, Nagasaki, Kobe, Kinkakuji, Yasaka, Hirano, Karasaki-matz, Daishie, Ishiyama, Tenoji, Smiyoshi, Homura, Sorehashi, Umenawa, Osaka, and Nagoya.