Views in Japan, India, & China

[1867-1870]. Photograph album, large oblong folio (320 x 480 mm), original red morocco richly gilt (worn at corners and spine ends), upper board lettered in gilt ‘Views in Japan, India, & China’; all edges gilt; moire pastedowns and endpapers; verso of front free-endpaper with the inscription of the original owner Frederick Woods, dated July 1871; containing [29] albumen prints by Felix Beato, in format 290 x 230 mm (or reverse), mounted recto of card leaves, the first 24 with Beato’s detailed printed caption mounted facing, the remainder with a brief manuscript caption on the mount; the first five Beato images are all exquisitely hand-coloured Japanese ethnic types in tableaux, the others are all topographical views in Japan; next is a sequence of [4] albumen prints by Samuel Bourne with topographical views in India, in approx. 230 x 290 mm format and all mounted recto with Woods’ manuscript caption to the mount; these are followed by [6] large albumen prints with views in Hong Kong by William Pryor Floyd in approx. 190 x 270 mm format, again all mounted recto and with a manuscript caption to the mount; the final album leaf has an albumen print of the newly-renovated Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo, the south wing of which had recently been destroyed by fire; a few of the Beato views have fading at the edges, otherwise all of the prints in the album are in excellent condition and have good tonal range; the mounts are clean and free from foxing.

An interesting album compiled at the start of the 1870s by a traveller to the Far East, Frederick Woods. The Japanese prints by Beato include several of his famous hand-coloured tableaux, such as “Les trois graces”, “Kango bearers”, “Mode of shampooing”, and “The Belle of the period”. The Beato views include Hakoni village and lake, Miyanoshita, the Tokaido, Yedo, Atsunghi, Burial ground of the Taikuns, Fujisawa, etc.

The Hong Kong photographs are attributable to William Pryor Floyd, and include views of The Peak with the Botanical Garden in the middle ground, The Praya, the harbour, an intriguing animated crowd scene on the “Grand Strand”, and a view of Macau (incorrectly captioned).

The Samuel Bourne views include sweeping view of Calcutta, a street scene in Delhi, Agra Fort, and the Taj Mahal.