Six albumen prints ca. 13,5x21,5 cm (ca. 5 ¼ x 8 ¼ in). All mounted on original card within gilt printed decorative borders; all with period ink captions in Russian on verso. Mounts slightly warped, otherwise a very good collection.

A very good collection of pre-revolutionary views of Arkhangelsk, and two other interesting places on the White Sea – the town of Mezen and Solovetsky Monastery. The photographs were taken by Yakov Ivanovich Leytsinger, Russian statesman and philanthropist of Swiss origin, a member of Arkhangelsk City Council (1897), Mayor of  (1903-1914). He opened his photography studio in Arkhangelsk in the 1880s and was known for high quality of his work. Leitsinger was the official photographer of the official tours across the Russian North of the Governors of Arkhangelsk province – Alexander Engelgardt (1895, his book “The Russian North” was illustrated with Leytsinger’s photos), and I. Sosnovsky (1911). Leitsinger took official photographs in Arkhangelsk of the start of the Arctic expeditions led by Vladimir Rusanov and Georgiy Sedov; his series of views of Solovetsky monastery was acquired for the collection of the Imperial House of Romanovs.

The four views of Arkhangelsk show the city embankment and the city’s main street – Troitskaya (now Troitsky prospect). Two images of the Northern Dvina embankment show the Arkhangelsk Holy Trinity Cathedral with the bell tower (1765), Church of Archangel Mikhail (1742-43) and the Annunciation Church (1763) – all of them, together with five other Arkhangelsk churches were demolished in the late 1920s. The photos of Troitskaya Street show the governor’s office with the monument to Mikhail Lomonosov (the monument survived but was relocated in 1930), with the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the background; and central part of the street, with the Chief Auditor’s office in the foreground.

The panorama of the Solovetsky Monastery erroneously captioned as “Arkhangelsk” was taken from the Prosperity Bay and shows the Dormition Cathedral (1552-57), Church of Saint Nicholas (1834) with the bell tower, St. Trinity Church (1856-59), the main Cathedral of the Monastery - Preobrazhensky Cathedral (1556–1564), administrative buildings and massive monastery walls and towers with the Saint Gates.

Very interesting is a photograph of Mezen, a town in the modern Arkhangelsk oblast “located on the right bank of the Mezen River close to the point where it flows into the White Sea. The settlement at the location of the present-day Mezen was founded in the 16th century” (Wikipedia). Mezen has a well preserved historical centre mostly represented with traditional Russian wooden architecture – as seen on the photo. Today it is included in a security zone of Russian Federation, and the access to the town is restricted.

All photographs bear the stamp of the 10th Jubilee photograph exhibition in Moscow, where Yakov Leitsinger was awarded with the Grand Dager Medal for his works.