Los 4018

British Military Souvenir Album
British military souvenir album showing warships, Mediterranean cities and harbors and West Indian islands

Aus dem Katalog
Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 4.12.2024

Photographers: Dimitrios Constantinou (active 1858-1860s), Pascal Sébah (1823-1886), Hippolyte Arnoux (active ca. 1860-1890), Giorgio Sommer (1834-1914) and unknown. British military souvenir album showing warships, Mediterranean cities and harbors as well as West Indian islands. 1874-78. 52 albumen prints mounted to album pages (some soiled, partially loose, covers missing). Various sizes, most 23 x 29 cm and reverse, a few larger or smaller. Some with photographer's name and/or title in the negative in lower margin.

This souvenir album likely belonged to an officer of the HMS Topaze, possibly even its commander, Edward Hardinge. The Topaze, a 51-gun, three-masted frigate, was part of a British squadron that included other warships such as the Narcissus, Immortalité, Endymion, Doris, Charybdis, and several others. The photographs, some in large format, document key harbor cities visited by the squadron in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, including a striking panoramic view of Gibraltar. The album also features views of Palermo, Athens, Rhodes, Smyrna, Suez, Malta, as well as Ceylon, India, and the West Indies, including Trinidad and Jamaica. Notable group portraits of the ships’ crews are also included. – Some prints with fading, otherwise in good to very good condition.