#PD11
Ca. 1940s
Oblong Quarto album (ca. 18,4x28,8 cm). 44 album paper leaves. With 44 mounted original gelatin silver photographs each ca. 20,1x12,5 cm (8x5 in). No captions. Period black full cloth covers with blind-tooled ornaments, fastened with a string; with the gilt-tooled generic title “Photographs” on the front cover; gilt-tooled stamp “E. E. Miles. Better Albums, South Lancaster, Mass.” on the inner side of the rear cover. Fragile, about fifteen leaves detached, one photo detached, paper leaves with tears at the edges, but overall a very good album with strong, interesting photos.
A rare attractive collection of forty-four early photographs of Mexico, apparently taken and collected by an American tourist from Massachusetts in the 1940s. Most of the photos (ca. 28) are vibrant portraits of Mexicans and candid scenes from their daily lives, showing musicians and folk dancers in sombreros, street vendors selling oranges, clothes, and pottery, trajinera boat drivers navigating canals, locals enjoying a feast, boys joyfully dancing, and women in traditional dresses strolling through streets. Two interesting photographs apparently capture the compiler posing in a white suit next to camels and his female companion smiling in sunglasses. The other photos document local landmarks in their early state - the Palacio de Bellas Artes (before the remodeling in 2010) and Santa Maria Magdalena Church in Mexico City, La Pila Fountain in Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas; and the Basilica of Our Lady of Ocotlán in Tlaxcala. There’s also one curious photo of a cactus with "Viva Almazán" inscribed on one of its leaves (Juan Andreu Almazán was a Mexican politician and general who ran as a presidential candidate in the 1940 election but ultimately lost). Overall, a rare album with well-preserved amateur photographs of Mexico in the early 1940s.
