Oblong Folio (ca. 31,5x40,5 cm). Thirteen large albumen prints ca. 21,5x27,5 (ca. 8 ½ x 10 ¾ in) mounted on card. All images with period manuscript ink captions in German and Russian on the mounts. Original dark brown morocco luxury album with gilt stamped title and decorative borders, marbled endpapers and gilt edges. Album slightly rubbed at extremities, but overall in very good condition, with bright and strong large photographs.

The album evidently originates from the family collection of the Barons von Engelhardt, and apparently illustrates one of their summer hunting gatherings in the 1890s. Two perfectly executed group portraits show the same hunting party, posing with guns or having a break with some beer and cards. The manuscript captions identify the people shown as “Factotum” (assistant), “Arthur”, “Willja (Schönheiden)”, “Förster” (ranger), “Forstgehülfe” (ranger’s assistant), “Alexis”, and “Piqueur” (whipper). Two of them are most likely sons of Baron Alphons von Engelhardt-Schnellenstein: Alexis von Engelhardt and Arthur Emanuel von Engelhardt - the owners of the Lautzen am See estate at the time. The album also contains several images of the estate itself: panorama of the Dervaniski Lake with the main manor in the background, one of its houses built in typical Baltic style, and a picnic ground nearby. Another group portrait taken in the estate’s park most likely shows the whole family of von Engelhardts: mother Olga (nee Baronesse von Buttlar, 1828-1902), brothers Arthur and Alexis, and their younger sister.

Other photos show views of the Dervaniski Lake (or Uste-See) taken near Lautzen am See estate, Spivakiski, Rostovka and Olgaslust. The photos show fields and meadows, wooden houses of the locals, and very often the hunting party of the Engelhardts with dogs and once even with a bear on leash.

Baron Alexis von Engelhardt (1868-1954) was a Baltic German writer and journalist, author of books on the history of Courland: “Die deutschen Ostzeeprovinzen Russlands” (Munich, 1916) and “Die Kavaliere von Illuxt” (Munich, 1949). In Russia he is known as the author of two articles about Anton Chekhov where he developed two popular stereotypes: “Chekhov – Russian Maupassant” and “Chekhov – pessimist”. (See: “Der russische Maupassant (Anton Tschechow)”// Das litterarische Echo. 1 Jg. (1898/99). № 3. S. 150-153; and “Anton Tschechow” // Almanach d. K. Akademie d. Wissenschaft. Wien, 1908, IX).

Baron Arthur Emanuel von Engelhardt (1864-1932) was a writer on hunting topics, author of “Aus russischen Wäldern Sümpfen und Steppen; Erinnerungen eines baltisches Weidmanns” (Berlin, 1826) and “Mischka (Berlin, 1928)”.

Lautzen am See (Dervaniski) - private estate 9,5 km south to Daugavpils, on Dervaniski Lake (Uste-See) near the border with Lithuania.

See more: Gottzmann C., Hörner P. Lexicon der deutschsprachigen Literatur des Baltikums und St. Petersburg. Bd. 1. 2007, P. 395; Feldmann H. and others. Baltisches Historisches Ortslexicon. Vol. 2. Lettland. 1990, p. 332.