Indian Photographs, Winter 1925-1926

1926. Very Good+. Grey cloth over boards (9.75” x 7.5”) with “Photographs” blindstamped on upper board; 23 grey heavy cardstock leaves, 17 of which feature tipped-on black-and-white photographs (90 images in all, most of them 3” x 4”, though some are a bit larger or smaller) with handwritten notations. Fine – a careful and tidy collection of photographs, all neatly tipped-on, labeled, and dated by hand.

Images of Agra, the Taj Mahal, shrines, palaces, schools, streets, tombs, Sikri, Delhi, Tughlagabad, Lahore, camel caravans, Peshawar, bazaars, Khyber Pass, Kashmir – to list everything in this far-reaching journey would be a disservice to the reader. Comprised mostly of landscapes and images of the Indian people, some elements of the personal do crop up here and there: Our author is featured in only one photograph – he sits on horseback with traveling companions, also on horseback, and this 2” x 3” image is labeled “Self / Lottery, Henry / Tommy, Alice / The Wallaby” (ostensibly identifying his friends and their horses); Henry will appear again, tiny against a landscape labeled “The End Pavillion, Chasma Shahi, Henry looking for bear.” Where it is light on the candid, it remains a diligent record – every image is identified, and all are crisp and clear, studiously photographed. A pleasing and unique volume.