Floyd William Pryor (4 results)

Thick Oblong folio. 14.5 x 10.75 x 2.25 in. [50 pp (unpaginated)], on thick cream-coloured boards, each mounted with white silk hinge at gutter margin, w/ 41 tipped-in albumen photos, sixed from 6 x 8 in. up to 8.5 x 11 in., 5 of which are hand-coloured, many w/ photographer's annotated caption w/in the negative at lower fore-edge frequently with image inventory number, many w/ manuscript in pencil captions. Beautiful beveled lacquer boards, Mother-of-Pearl & bone inset panel on black laccquer on front cover depicting Rickshaw drive pulling Japanese Geisha w/ Mount Fuji in background, a.e.g. (rebacked w/ maroon-coloured calf, minor edgewear, minor curving to textblock, a couple images w/ minor creasing from mounting, 1 w/ very minor tear), still an excellent exemplar, with the nearly all the photographs retaining bright strong contrast. This superb Asian Souvenir Export photo album filled with large albumen prints offers a vivid representation of people, life, and the architectural landscape of Victorian-Era Hong Kong, Saigon in French Indochina (Vietnam), Canton (Guangzhou), China, and Meiji-era Japan. Fifteen of the photographs depict scenes and life in and around Hong Kong, with several of the photos by famed Chinese photographer Lai Afong (1839-1890), including a view of Happy Valley, the Public Gardens, the Peak Hill District with 55 houses at the Peak, Cemetery, and another view of the public gardens with harbour in the background by William Pryor Floyd (1834-c.1900), a prolific British Commercial Photographer. One of the Hong Kong photographs depicts the Mount Austin Hotel which was built above the Victoria Gap, opened in 1891 and was named after Colonial Secretary John Gardiner Austin, and operated for just a short time, converted by 1897 into the Mount Austin Barracks. Another Hong Kong photo, depicts the six-story expansion completed in 1893 to the Hong Kong Hotel facing Victoria Harbor on Queen's Road, which included a private ferry launch for guests. The last Hong Kong photo is a striking street scene by Lai Afong. Of particular interest are the several original albumen photos capturing Saigon, French Indochina, or Cochin China, and surrounding areas with images shot by Emile Gsell (1838-1879), noted French military photographer, and his successor Otto Wegener (1849-1922), noted Swedish photographer who continued to sell Gsell's prints, as well as Vidal/Salin-Vidal. These images include views of a "Native House, Saigon," "Native Street, Saigon," French "Military Hospital Ship" docked in Saigon, "Monkey Palms, Saigon," "French Settlement, Saigon" along some railroad tracks, and traditional sampans boats along a canal in Cholon, Saigon. In our experience, this many French Indochina, Vietnam photographs included for travel in and around Saigon, are quite uncommon. Nine of the original albumen photographs capture such scenes in and around Canton (Guangzhou), China such as the 500 Mages, or interior shot of the 500 Lohan disciples of the Buddha inside the Hualin Temple in the western suburb of Canton, the "Execution Yard" in Canton, Pagoda near Canton,as well as two very nice images of the "Flower Boats" in Canton, possibly by Lai Afong, or Emil Rumsfield, visually capturing these multi-tiered wooden houseboats, or pleasure boats operating as exclusive floating brothels, featuring music, dining and socializing, and essential to the Pearl River's social economy into the 20th Century. A couple others include prisoners in wooden stocks in Canton, China, taken from a cracked glass negative, and well-dressed Mandarin Chinese official.The remainder of the albumen photographs sprinkled through the album encompass a hand-coloured albumen of Japanese rickshaw pulling kimono-clad Japanese women; the Yokohama Hataba, or English/French treaty pier; Yokohama Park with cherry blossoms viewing & rickshaws; the famed view of the staged seppuku scene with nearby kaishakunin Samurai assistant standing with drawn sword for beheading, and beautiful Kamakura Temple shot by Felice Beato. Other Beato photos include a fine Palanquin photo of young geisha and porters; and a very nice "Setting Silk-Worm-Eggs to the Paper" with young silkworm women workers carefully extracting the threads. Adolfo Farsari (1841-1898) photos include one of the No. 9 House in Yokohama, Japan, as well as two shots of the Grand Hotel in Yokohama. See: Terry Bennett, History of Photography in China, Chinese Photographers 1844-1879; Metadata Database of Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period, Nagasaki University Library Collection (2006); Early Photography of Japan, Harvard College Library; Bennett, Photography in Japan 1853-1912 (2006); Old Photos of Japan. A Photo Blog of Japan in the Meiji, Laisho and Showa Periods.…

[1867-1870]. Photograph album, large oblong folio (320 x 480 mm), original red morocco richly gilt (worn at corners and spine ends), upper board lettered in gilt 'Views in Japan, India, & China'; all edges gilt; moire pastedowns and endpapers; verso of front free-endpaper with the inscription of the original owner Frederick Woods, dated July 1871; containing [29] albumen prints by Felix Beato, in format 290 x 230 mm (or reverse), mounted recto of card leaves, the first 24 with Beato's detailed printed caption mounted facing, the remainder with a brief manuscript caption on the mount; the first five Beato images are all exquisitelyhand-coloured Japanese ethnic types in tableaux, the others are all topographical views in Japan; next is a sequence of [4] albumen prints by Samuel Bourne with topographical views in India, in approx. 230 x 290 mm format and all mounted recto with Woods' manuscript caption to the mount; these are followed by [6] large albumen prints with views in Hong Kong by William Pryor Floyd in approx. 190 x 270 mm format, again all mounted recto and with a manuscript caption to the mount; the final album leaf has an albumen print of the newly-renovated Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo, the south wing of which had recently been destroyed by fire; a few of the Beato views have fading at the edges, otherwise all of the prints in the album are in excellent condition and have good tonal range; the mounts are clean and free from foxing. An interesting album compiled at the start of the 1870s by a traveller to the Far East, Frederick Woods. The Japanese prints by Beato include several of his famous hand-coloured tableaux, such as "Les trois graces", "Kango bearers", "Mode of shampooing", and "The Belle of the period". The Beato views include Hakoni village and lake, Miyanoshita, the Tokaido, Yedo, Atsunghi, Burial ground of the Taikuns, Fujisawa, etc. The Hong Kong photographs are attributable to William Pryor Floyd, and include views of The Peak with the Botanical Garden in the middle ground, The Praya, the harbour, an intriguinganimated crowd scene on the "Grand Strand", and a view of Macau (incorrectly captioned). The Samuel Bourne views include sweeping view of Calcutta, a street scene in Delhi, Agra Fort, and the Taj Mahal.…

2 albumen prints joined, folding panorama mounted on contemporary card and silk (image size: 8 6/8 x 22 4/8 inches), manuscript caption to mount "East Point, Hongkong". A fine photograph of Hong Kong, showing East Point in the 1860s, with the first stage of land reclamation in the fore-ground. Once a cape on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, East Point extended from Jardine's Hill, and Lee Garden towards the Kellett Island (seen clearly to the left). The headland marked the eastern limits of the early City of Victoria, and separated Causeway Bay in the east and the bay outside Happy Valley. Now the headland is completely consumed by the Causeway Bay Station of the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) and the World Trade Centre. A causeway extends all the way to Kellett Island. Floyd "had a long and distinguished photographic career in China producing work of a very high standard and operating, for a time, one of the most successful studios in the Far East. In the late 1860s Floyd was John Thomson's major competitor in Hong Kong". (Bennett) His studio was located at 62 Queen's Road, Hong Kong from April 1867 until May 1869. (see Bennett, T. History of Photography in China, Western Photographers 1861-1879, London: Quaritch, 2010, pp.7-18). Catalogued by Kate Hunter.…

Macau, c. 1868. Mounted albumen photograph, measuring 19.5 by 27 cm; light fading, a little bubbling near the centre.Floyd was the only other European photographic pioneer in the Far East to rival Chinese Thomson. "In 1863-64, he worked as an assistant in the photography studio of Richard Shannon & Co., in Shanghai. Floyd moved to Macau to establish his own studio along the Praia Grande. In 1866-67 he joined the Hong Kong studio of Silveira & Co., soon becoming its owner" (Historical Photographs of China, online). …