Reise S.M.S. Stosch nach China und Japan 1881-1883.

Photographirt und herausgegeben v. G. Riemer, Marine Zahlmeister. Band II [of 2] See- und Schiffsbilder. Leipzig : F. A. Brockhaus, 1883. Oblong folio (300 x 400 mm), original red cloth over boards decorated and lettered in gilt, upper board with titles in German, Chinese and Japanese (some light flecking and minor stains, lower board with damp staining), original red morocco spine lettered in gilt; all edges gilt, original gilt-decorated endpapers; title leaf, contents leaf, 6 pp. text, illustrated with 59 Woodburytypes (numbered 59-117) mounted on rectos of 19 boards (“Taf. 20-38”); most images 100 x 165 mm, some larger, with captions printed below the images on the mount; contents – including all prints – in very fine condition.

Gustav Adolf Riemer (1842-1899) joined the Prussian Marines in 1859. He served as paymaster on the voyage of the S.M.S. Hertha to the Far East and the South Sea islands in 1874-77. Riemer was a keen amateur photographer and took several hundred photographs during this expedition, documenting his ship’s visits to the Philippines, Hong Kong, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Vladivostock, Canton, Amoy, the Marianas, the Caroline Islands, the Palau Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Auckland, and King George’s Sound (Albany, Western Australia). In 1878 Riemer self-published a photographic album of the voyage, Tagebuchs-Auszug betreffend die Reise S.M.S. “Hertha” nach Ost-Asien und den Sudsee-Inseln, 1874-1877 (Wilhelmshaven : G. Riemer, 1878).

After serving on the S.M.S. Meteor, Riemer was appointed paymaster on the S.M.S. Stosch. The photographs in the present album – the second in a set of two, of which the first volume is rarely found – were taken on trips which the Stosch made to China and Japan in 1881-83. The photographs record in detail the great variety of duties of a German naval crew during a long sea voyage at this time, documenting its activities above and below decks, as well as the ship undergoing repairs in dock.

Trove locates no copies in Australian collections.