Oblong Quarto album (ca. 12x26,5 cm). 12 card stock leaves. With 49 mounted and one loosely inserted photograph from ca. 5,5x8,3 cm (2 ¼ x 3 ¼ in) to ca. 6,2x8,8 cm (2 ½ x 3 ½ in). All photos but two with captions on the mounts (Swedish). Period olive green full cloth binding with gilt lettering on the front board. One leaf slightly worn, several photos with mild silvering, but overall a very good album with strong interesting photos.

Historically interesting collection of lively vernacular photographs taken by a Swedish traveler during his/her trip to pre-revolutionary Moscow in the early-1900s.

The compiler was apparently a close friend or relative of Vera Bogdanova (1888-?), who was the granddaughter of Alexander Friedrich von Lieven (1801-1880), a Baltic German infantry general and Governor of Taganrog. The photographs were likely taken and collected during the compiler’s stay with Bogdanova’s family in Moscow.

The collection features fifty vibrant views of Russia, with ca. forty excellent photographs showing Tsarist Moscow. Ten well-executed close-up photos depict Cathedral of Christ the Savior (exterior and altar), St. Clement’s Church, Kremlin tower, Tsar Bell & Canon, Iberian Gate & Chapel, Saint Basil's Cathedral (under restoration), Morozov Mansion, “My residence,” and the now-destroyed Sukharev tower and Monument of Alexander II. Several candid urban scenes vividly portray parishioners in the courtyard of the Church of the Twelve Apostles awaiting the holy oil, locals bustling through a festive Easter bazaar near the Kremlin, and carriages parading on Red Square during Palm Sunday. Especially interesting are eleven individual and group portraits of a police officer (with clearly visible Russian signs of “Passage of the Dzhamgarov Brothers,” “G. Moret’s Store,” and “S. Siu & Co.” confectionery in the background), beggar woman in rags, Alexander II’s grenadier with a bearskin, a boy in chokha, “My teacher” with a bear, Cossacks riding through the streets, troika drivers, monk beggars, etc. There are also about eight excellent aerial views of Moscow (from the Church of the Savior, Tower of Ivan the Great, and Sparrow Hills), close-up street views of the Kremlin Embankment, Ilyinka, and Volkhonka Streets, and a photo of a steamer, which the compiler likely used to reach Russia.

About ten photographs capture the compiler's visit to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in Sergiyev Posad, showing detailed views of the now-destroyed Gethsemane Chernigov Skete, the Trinity Monastery, and the surrounding Lavra area. The rest of the photos mostly show Vera Bogdanova smiling with dolls, the compiler’s Swedish companions posing near the monastery and enjoying a feast. Overall, historically interesting album documenting pre-revolutionary Tsarist Moscow.