#PC13
Ca. 1890s.
Oblong Folio (ca. 27x35 cm). 6 card stock leaves. With 41 mounted albumen photos, including 39 smaller ones, ca. 11x16 cm (4 ¼ x 6 ¼ in) and two large images ca. 22x28 cm (8 ¾ x11 in). All photos with period ink captions in French on the mounts; three photos are dated 1895 in ink. Period style black half morocco with black cloth boards; all edges gilt. Album leaves slightly waved, several leaves slightly soiled, a few photos mildly faded, but overall a very good album of interesting photos.
Attractive collection of lively original photos of British Hong Kong, from the 1890s. Apparently compiled by a French visitor or resident of the colony, the album contains a classic view of the city taken from Victoria Peak, several photos of the Peak (including the Peak Hotel), a series of views of the “Public Garden” (now Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden) including the statue of Sir Arthur Kennedy (the Governor of Hong Kong in 1872-1877), images of the Catholic Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, a “Chinese pagoda” and “Leeung Ma Temple,” Praya waterfront, City Hall, the racetrack, Queen’s Road, rail tracks and stations of the Peak Tramway, wooden building of a “recreation club,” “water police station,” interior of a Chinese house, &c. There are also group portraits of Chinese coolies, peasants working on a field, and a scene of the public execution of native pirates.
Six photos portray a group of Europeans in Hong Kong, possibly featuring the album’s compiler. Several people are identified in initials (“P.,” “R.,” “M.C.,” “L.,” “F.,” &c.). Three of the portraits depict the Europeans during an excursion to the Kowloon peninsula in March 1895. A man in one of the “Hong Kong” portraits holds a small photo camera. Two large studio photos at the rear show the Public Garden (the monument to Sir Arthur Kennedy, the fountain and the staircase) and Chinese junks in the harbour.
The album also contains three views of Canton (the interior of a Chinese house, a fort on the Pearl River, waterfront with the “Sailors’ Home”) and a photo of the residence of a consul in Formosa.
Overall a nice collection of lively early photos of Hong Kong.
