Folio (ca. 31,5x26,5 cm or 12 ¼ x 10 ¼ in). 21 card stock leaves. With 100 mounted original photographs. Among them are ninety-two albumen and gelatin silver photos, including a large image ca. 19x27,5 cm (7 ½ x 11 in) and over fifty large photos ca. 17x23 cm (6 ¾ x 9 in); the rest of the photos are from ca. 11,5x16,5 cm (4 ½ x 6 ½ in) to ca. 5x9 cm (2 x 3 ½ in); eight cyanotypes, each ca. 6,5x8,5 cm (2 ½ x 3 ¼ in). Over seventy images with period manuscript ink or pencil captions on special labels mounted underneath, on the album leaves or the margins of the photos. Four photos are captioned and signed “N.D. Phot.” in negative. Period style maroon half morocco with cloth boards. Mounts slightly soiled and waved, three photos with minor damage or losses on the extremities, a few photos mildly faded, but overall a very good album of interesting rare photos.

Historically significant, extensive collection of original albumen, gelatin silver and cyanotype photos of Gabon, Sao Tome and Congo, possibly collected and taken by a Belgian colonial officer while on service in the Congo Free State – which at the time was an absolute monarchy privately owned by Belgian King Leopold II in 1885-1908, then a Belgian colony (until 1960) and presently the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The album opens with twenty-six photos of French-occupied Gabon, likely collected during the compiler’s voyage to Congo. The images include a large group portrait of “personnel d’un convoi pour l’Ogoué” (Ogooué River), views of native houses in Libreville, Komo River, several river scenes and a post near Libreville, the settlement of “mission de l’Ouest Africain,” N’djolé village on the Ogooué River, the post of Loango (view from the sea, the interior and personnel of the post, surrounding forest), a native pirogue with rowers, and several portraits of Gabonese men and women wearing traditional and European clothes.

Then follow eighteen views of Sao Tome (then a Portuguese colony), showing the central city (government and market squares, gardens, “habitation sur pilotis”), as well as photos of native villages, scenes of drying coffee beans, views of a waterfall near the village of Blublu, a private garden, a road to the interior, a bridge, a coffee warehouse, “Factorie de M. Bettencourt,” portraits of native women, “porter slaves” (“esclaves portefaix”), &c.

Ten photos identified by the compiler as taken in “Congo” show “femme Bonga,” a white hunter posing with killed elephants in Brazzaville, women cooking food, “Bokouka (chef de la Sangha),” “Commissaire Henrion” and his house, Belgian military officers and African chiefs, taken in “Manyamga, Aout 1898,” featuring “Ch. Tabba, Cn. Nienga, Ct. Henrion, Chef Matadi de Tombo, Chef Mvouka de Goyo, Balouka de Kimbala,” a group of African villagers, a view of a colonial residence, &c. Arthur-Marie Henrion (1874-1915) was a Belgian commissary in Congo in 1901-1914. Eight smaller cyanotypes with the general manuscript caption “Congo” include portraits of “type Bonga,” “Bokalika, Chef de Bonga (Congo),” views of a river steamer, a native settlement, a public event on a train with the sign “Chemin de Fer du Congo,” &c.

The other photos include several group portraits of colonial officers and administrators posing with African people, going on boats (under French or Belgian flags); views of a wharf with an ocean steamer, a native village, &c.

Four identified photos taken in Porto Novo (Benin) include a scene of celebration of the 14th of July with a public gathering in front of a building, elaborately decorated with French flags and emblems, a portrait of “Roi Toffo” (King Toffa I (ca. 1850-1908), a ruler of the kingdom of Hogbonu in modern-day Porto-Novo) and a group portrait of “Femmes de Porto Novo (Dahomey).”

At least ten large gelatin silver photos at the rear are portaits of native people of Madagascar (Betsimisaraka and others) and scenes from their life (cooking, boating in a river, making straw mats, &c.). The album also contains three albumen photos of Funchal, Madeira, and four albumen photos of Oran, Algeria (the latter by the studio of brothers Louis-Antonin and Étienne Neurdein, see the credentials (“N.D. Phot.” in negative).

Overall an interesting, extensive collection of rare early original photos of Gabon, Sao Tome and Congo.