Thirty-eight loose original gelatin silver photographs, with the larger ones ca. 8,1x13,9 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ½ in) and the smaller ones ca. 8,1x10,8 cm (3 ½ x 4 ¼ in). All photos numbered, captioned, and stamped (“Mont L Preston. Kodak Finishing. Garden Grove, California”) on verso, three photos signed and captioned in negative. A couple of photos with very light damp stains on verso, one photo (#37) lacks a small fragment in the lower right corner, photos with mild silvering and slightly age-toned, but overall a very good collection of strong, interesting photos.

Historically interesting collection of rare early photos, likely taken by a newlywed couple on their honeymoon trip across California in 1913. As follows from the stamps on the back of the photos, the photographer was Monte L. Preston (1842-1977), a 21-year-old pharmacist from Orange, California. He likely developed the photos himself using a photographic developing apparatus at a drugstore in Garden Grove, where he worked as a “druggist.” According to the San Bernardino County Sun. Nov 27, 1913. P. 6, Preston married 20-year-old Clara O. Tournat, native of Texas, and resident of Garden Grove, in November 1913. The 1950 United States Federal Census lists Preston as a retail pharmacist, living with his wife and daughter in Downey, Los Angeles.

The collection features thirty-eight lively photos of California taken by a young pharmacist during his honeymoon trip in 1913. About sixteen well-executed photos of Los Angeles and its environs show San Louis Rey Mission, the exterior and interior of the San Juan Capistrano Chapel, the County Jail, the Court House, and a bungalow in Santa Ana, Busch’s Gardens in Pasadena, the port of San Pedro, a powerhouse & mountain cabin in San Gabriel Canyon, the waterfront in Long Beach, and “a steamer coming into Avalon, Catalina Island,” with various ad banners in the background (“Hotel Del Mar,” “Glenmore,” “H. D. Macrae Co.,” “Pauline Hall,” “Island Grocery,” etc.) Two other lively vernacular photos from the Los Angeles series, including one with a date, capture the YMCA camp members caught up in a playful pajama pillow fight and enjoying an adventurous hike on Santa Catalina Island.

The collection also features two interesting photographs of Placerville, a historic town in California once known for its gold mining activity. After the depletion of gold resources in the late 1800s, the town’s economy shifted to timber, establishing Placerville as a key logging center. The photos showcase early logging operations in Placerville, with trains transporting logs through the forest and a local sawmill processing timber. Another important photo likely shows a part of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which connected Placerville to other parts of California. The image depicts a train entering a tunnel in the iconic Tehachapi Loop. An impressive helix stretching three-quarters of a mile while looping over itself to gain 77 feet in elevation, the loop was completed in 1876, and was considered a significant engineering feat at the time.

The rest of the interesting photos feature “15000 gal tanks of gasoline burning” behind a Southern California Sugar Co., the Santa Ynez Valley and the Old Mission (bell and corridor) in Santa Barbara, a children’s swimming pool and the Horticultural building in San Diego, “a Spanish house made of adobe,” “amateur wireless set,” “California home in winter,” “a quiet running stream,” etc. There’s also one curious photograph likely showing the compiler himself posing under a cactus tree. Overall, an attractive collection of early original photos of California.