About this Item
Oblong Folio, ca. 26,5x36,5 cm (10 ½ x 14 ¼ in). 23 black stiff card album leaves. With 190 mounted original gelatin silver photographs, including one panorama ca. 13x30,5 cm (5x12 in), 22 photographs each ca. 8,5x14 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ½ in) and slightly larger, the rest each ca. 6x8,5 cm (2 ¼ x 3 ¼ in) or slightly smaller. All photos with period captions in French related either to individual images or to groups of images; manuscript label "Voyage 1934-1935 Album I" pasted on the inner side of the front cover. Period Chinese decorative cloth covers, spine is fastened with a decorative string. Very good album with strong sharp photographs. Extensive collection of lively snapshots documenting the travels of a young French couple ("Bobby" and "Manette") around South-East Asia; the voyage onboard the Dutch ocean liner "Baloeran" took them via Suez Canal and Colombo to the Sabang Island, Sumatra and Java, and thence to Singapore and Malaysia. The album opens with twenty photos of the couple and their travel companions on board the "Baloeran," and several views of Port Said and Colombo taken on the way. Nine photos show different views of the coast and a small port on the Sabang Island; over twenty images depict Sumatra: a rubber plantation (with the administrator's mansion, and a small bridge), Berastagi (golf course, monument on the Equator, rice fields), Sibolga, volcanic Lake Toba, town of Parapat, and the quay at Padang. Over sixty photos show various locations on Java. Particularly interesting are a series of excellent photos (including three real photo postcards) of Bodobodur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, which is now a UNESCO world heritage site; views of the temples in Sari, Mendut, Kalassan, Panon and Prabalan; and three photos of the crater of the Kawah Ratu volcano. Other photos show streets and port of Batavia (Jakarta); Bogor Botanical Gardens; tea plantation and factory in Pingalangan; streets of Garut town (with lively photos of dancing children), train station in Banjar, et al. Thirty-one photos taken in Singapore show the exterior and interior of a countryside mansion of a high-ranking British administrator, portraits of the travellers with their hosts (one of them, apparently, is the owner of the mansion), in the Singapore botanic gardens, and while playing golf on the nearby Boekit Timah hill. Twenty-four views of Malaysia show a golf club in Kuala Lumpur, and Penang (the port, several ferry boats, native village on a beach, Kek Lok Si Temple, Snake Temple, and a large studio panoramic view of Penang taken from the Strawberry Hill). Overall, a nice photo collection with some unusual views and scenes from Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Seller Inventory # PC91
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