Oblong 12mo album (ca. 14x18,5 cm or 5 ½ x 7 ¼ in). 12 card stock leaves. With 96 original mounted gelatin silver photos, all ca. 4,5x7 cm (1 ¾ x 2 ¾ in). With a loosely inserted bifolium of graph paper ca. 22x17 cm (8 ½ x 6 ¾ in) with period manuscript ink captions in French to all photos. Period green full cloth album. Binding slightly rubbed on the extremities and loosened on hinges, several images slightly faded, but overall a very good album.

With six folders, all ca. 8,5x12,5x3,5 cm (3 ¼ x 4 ¾ x 1 ½ in). In all over 500 negatives, each ca. 6x9 cm (2 ¼ x 3 ¼ in), all inserted into tissue paper pockets with printed numbers in the upper corners. No captions. With a couple of loosely inserted pieces of paper with period ink captions in French, referring to the previously removed negatives. Six period maroon full cloth folders with silver-lettered titles “Album/Classeur/6x9.” Two folders housed in original card slipcases. A couple of folders slightly rubbed on the extremities, the slipcases are soiled and with tears on folds, several tissue paper pockets housing negatives with minor tears or losses, several negative slightly faded or blurry, but overall very good.

With three folders, all ca. 7,5x9x3,5 cm (3 x 3 ½ x 1 ¼ in). In all over 200 negatives, each ca. 4x6,5 cm (1 ½ x 2 ½ in), all inserted into tissue paper pockets with printed numbers in the upper corners. No captions. Three period dark blue full cloth folders with silver-lettered titles “Album/Classeur/4x6 ½.” Folders slightly soiled, several tissue paper pockets housing negatives with minor tears or losses, several negative slightly faded or blurry, but overall very good.

Historically significant extensive collection of over 700 original film negatives and an album with 96 gelatin silver amateur photos, taken by a French resident of French Indochina in the 1930s, with a wide picture of life in the colony at the time.

The album opens with thirty-two photos of French Cochinchina (modern-day southern Vietnam) and Cambodia, accompanied by a detailed list of captions, dated from April 1934 to September 1935. Most photos show the Vietnamese city of Chau Doc in the Mekong River delta on the border with Cambodia, where the compiler resided, and its environs (“la maison d’André,” the villages of Nhabam, Thoison, Nui-Sam, Phi-Lai, Tracquan, &c., Nui Sam sacred mountain, temples, tombs, local farmers, boatsmen, the compiler and his friends, &c.). There are also several photos of Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City (botanical garden, Musée Blanchard de la Brosse/National Museum of Vietnam), and the city of Battambang, then the second-largest in Cambodia (a Buddhist street procession). The images of Indochina are followed by eight photos of Tahiti, dated June 1938 – January 1939 (La Diademe Mountain, the compiler’s friends in Mahapape/Point Venus, local family group). The second half of the album, with forty-six photos, follows the life of the compiler’s family member “Pierre” (likely, brother) in France in 1940-1942 (Lourdes, Lannemezan, Stenay, Bonnefont, Marmande, St. Bernard-de-Cominges, St. Gaudens, &c.).

The collection of film negatives is rich and comprehensive. One of the smaller folders contains 37 negatives of the photos in the album; the rest are unique and provide a detailed overview of life in French Cochinchina and Cambodia in the 1930s. Among the identified images are a series of views of Angkor Wat (general and close-up views of the complex, its walls, temples, galleries, bas-reliefs, & etc.) and several views of the Royal Palace of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The other negatives show East-Asian cities and villages, streets and markets, bridges, local and colonial buildings, public spaces and monuments, Catholic churches, Buddhist temples, pagodas and sculptures, private residences, coutryside, fields and forests, a road sign (with distances to Takeo, Pnom Penh and other locations), ports and harbours, river steamers and house boats, coastal and beach views, &c. Numerous negatives portray native people - farmers, water and load carriers, musicians and dancers, elephant drivers, monks (praying, writing, posing inside a temple), families, tribesmen, women in traditional costumes, rickshaw and horse cart drivers, and others; there are also interesting scenes of military parades, street processions and public celebrations (including a canoe race). Several images portray the compiler and his friends and show their car.

One of the larger folders with 34 negatives contains images taken during a trip to Sri Lanka, with a series of interesting views of the grounds and sites of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy (the Octagon Pavilion, external walls and galleries, the interior of the temple, pilgrims), scenes with workers in a tea factory, a rickshaw driver on a street, elephant drivers, views of a port and harbour, an ocean steamer, scenes on board, &c.

The collection also includes ten folders (from ca. 8,5x10x3,5 cm to ca. 7,5x8,5x3 cm) with over 850 original film negatives (from ca. 6x6 cm to ca. 4,5x6 cm), with portraits of friends and family in France and travels around Europe (France, Great Britain, the Mediterranean, &c.)

Overall an interesting extensive collection of original film negatives and gelatin silver photos, showing southern Vietnam and Cambodia and their people in the 1930s.