Oblong Quarto album ca. 25x29,2 cm (10 x 11 ½ in). 32 card stock leaves. With ca. 158 mounted original gelatin silver photographs, with 20 larger ones ca. 20,6x15 cm (8 x 6 in) and the rest from ca. 13,8x8,7 cm (5 ½ x 3 ½ in) to ca. 7,2x9,7 cm (2 ¾ x 4 in). Most photos with period white ink captions (in English) on the mounts. Period custom-made half-leather binding with raised bands and gilt lettered title “Voyage Around the World” on the spine. Edges worn, several photos with age-toning, but otherwise a very good album with strong, interesting photos.

Historically interesting extensive collection of original photographs taken and collected by an English traveler during voyages to Canada, India, and Oceania between 1907 and 1910.

The album contains 158 lively vernacular photographs, with about 100 images documenting the Indian voyage. As follows from the photographs, the compiler and his/ her companions departed from Liverpool aboard the SS Persia to Mumbai via the Suez Canal, visiting several port cities and likely continuing to northern India by train. (SS Persia was later torpedoed and sunk in 1915 by a German U-boat, killing 343 of the 519 aboard).

About twenty-four excellent photographs of Agra (some captioned “Delhi”) portray iconic landmarks, including fourteen large-size views of the Agra Fort (general view, entrance, Jasmine Tower, Hindu Ladies’ Apartments), the Taj Mahal (exterior, gateway, tomb screen), and the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daula (interior and exterior). Eleven photographs of Mumbai depict general views, historic sites (Elephanta Caves, Tower of Silence), and a candid scene of a snake charmer “hypnotizing” cobras. Especially interesting are six photographs from Varanasi (Benares), showing crowds gathered at the ghats for ritual bathing and street merchants sheltering under rows of bamboo umbrellas. Eight photographs of Madurai depict the gopurams of the Meenakshi Temple (exterior views, the Hall of a Thousand Pillars, interior details), the Tiruchirappalli Rock Fort, and a lively gathering of locals. The Indian series also includes four photographs of Kolkata (Calcutta), showing horse races at the Turf Club and a crowded wayside station. The other photographs mostly feature a Jain temple and a busy marketplace in Chennai (Madras).

About ten photos from Sri Lanka (then British Ceylon), mostly show Botanical Gardens in Kandi and a street juggler in Colombo.

Over twenty photographs from the same voyage portray the SS Persia and its passengers aboard, as well as views taken during stopovers en route to India, including Alexandria (waterfront), the Suez Canal, and Cairo (Mosque of Omar, Great Pyramid, Khedivial Library, Mosque of Muhammad Ali).

Forty-four photographs illustrate the compiler’s journey aboard the Empress of Britain from Liverpool to Canada. Five excellent photographs from Quebec City document the CPR hotel Château Frontenac and the collapse of the Quebec Bridge (a catastrophic engineering failure of August 29, 1907, during construction over the St. Lawrence River that killed 75 workers). Other Canadian photographs show Ottawa (University of Toronto, Parliament buildings, and landscape views), Victoria (wooden houses, general views, Kootenay Lake), and Sault Ste. Marie (New Ontario Hotel), as well as Laggan Station and views taken from the train while crossing the Canadian Rockies.

The collection also contains about fifteen well-executed photographs from what appears to be a third voyage to Oceania, including views from Hobart, eucalyptus trees in Melbourne, and scenes from Fiji (schoolchildren, an Indian labourer’s hut, and a Hindu family).

Overall, historically interesting extensive collection of original gelatin silver photographs taken and collected by an English traveler during voyages to Canada, British India, and Oceania between 1907 and 1910.