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The Resource [Photograph album of India and Sri Lanka]

[Photograph album of India and Sri Lanka]

Work
Extent
1 album (106 photographic prints)
Note
  • Title supplied by cataloger
  • Photographs (20.5 x 26 cm) are mounted on rectos and versos of leaves of heavy white paper, one to a page; prints mounted by inserting the four corners into slits cut into the leaves; some prints are signed by the photographer, and/or have captions in negative; some prints have captions in pencil on versos; the last 40 leaves in the album are blank
  • Bound in contemporary album, plain pebbled dark brown leather covers with corners and spine in a similar light brown leather; ornamental gilt trim; glossy white textured endpapers
  • Part of the Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94) in Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
Instance
Label
[Photograph album of India and Sri Lanka]
Title
[Photograph album of India and Sri Lanka]
Contributor
Photographer
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
Album containing large collotype prints of views of India and Sri Lanka, from photographs taken by various photographers between 1880 and 1910.
Cataloging source
CLU
Characteristic
picture
Summary expansion
The album contains at least 17 prints of photographs by Samuel Bourne of Delhi, Jaipur, Āmer, Varanasi (Benares), and Darjeeling; and the section on Sri Lanka (Ceylon) includes five images by Charles T. Scowen and four by Colombo Apothecaries Co. Ltd, whose prints are often signed "C A Co." Several of the portraits may be the work of Edward Taurines. The album opens in Bombay (now Mumbai), offering sweeping views of the harbor filled with steamships and trading boats, and a long line of horse carriages standing on the pier; as well as many of the buildings along the nearby Esplanade, such as Watson's Esplanade Hotel, India's oldest surviving cast iron building, designed by Rowland Mason Ordish, and opened in 1869; the Rajabi Clock Tower; the University of Mumbai buildings; the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation Building, known as the BMC Building, completed in 1893; and the Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival train station, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, built in 1887 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Scenes of local life include a group of snake charmers and drummers; a tonga drawn by two bullocks--the local taxi; a streetscape featuring a jumble of buildings, shops with awnings, and shoppers with parasols; women in saris gathered at the public water fountain and pool with their water pots; and a multi-generational peasant family posed in front of their thatched hut woven of sticks. The album contains several portraits, some of the most beautiful being a street scene of two young Delhi dancing girls accompanied by musicians, one playing a type of violin, the other a large drum; a studio portrait with painted backdrop of a wealthy young couple dressed in silk, the woman wearing extravagant nose and foot jewelry, and many gold bracelets, bangles, and necklaces; and a group portrait of a large well-to-do-Indian family. There are also views of the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi, the Red Fort, so called for its red sandstone walls (a translation of the Hindustani Lāl Qila), and the Qtub complex that includes the great arch, the iron pillar and the Kutub Minar minaret. In Jaipur, Bourne has photographed a Raj-era dak bungalow, lodgings built as housing for British officials or travelers; the city square Amber Chowk; the Maharajah's College facing Johari Bazaar; Albert Hall (now the Government Central Museum); and the ornate Hawa Mahal palace. Crowding the roads and streets of these cities all types of transportation are visible, including camels, elephants, ox carts, horse-drawn tongas, rickshaws, trams, and horse railroad. There are views of palaces, forts, and the old city in Āmer; the Taj Mahal in Agra; and the burning ghats where cremations take place along the Ganges in Benares (now Varanasi). Throughout the album, the Islamic and Mughal architecture is on display, featuring a riot of elaborate towers, domes, lattice-work, tiles, and carved arches and columns. The tea-growing area around Darjeeling is documented with shots of the Darjeeling Himalayan hill passenger train that winds up through the mountains, Nepali workers with large woven panniers on their backs harvesting tea leaves, the resort hotel Woodlands with its stunning views of "the snows" of the distant Himalayas and Mt. Everest and the local outdoor fruit market. The harbor in Calcutta (Kolkata) is crammed with three-masted schooners, native dhows with canvas canopies, and sampans. In one photo the Whiteaway Laidlaw & Co. building is visible from afar, and there are views of the avenue of palm trees and the enormous banyan tree in the city's Botanic Garden. The last 24 prints in the album are of Ceylon (or Sri Lanka as it is known today). The views of Colombo are a mixture of local life--men pulling rickshaws, fishermen in an outrigger canoe, farmers with large ox carts lined up on the street, a man selling bananas from his thatched hut at the side of the road--and British colonial life--the large fancy hotels such as the Galle Face Hotel, and the cultivated tropical splendor of the palms and rubber trees in the Royal Botanic Garden. Many of these photos are the work of Charles Scowen and the Colombo Apothecaries Co. Ltd. studios. The album concludes with a view of the lake in Kandy; a misty forested landscape in Nuwara Eliya; and a portrait of the large family of a Kandyan chief in ceremonial dress
Technique
not applicable
Label
[Photograph album of India and Sri Lanka]
Instantiates
Production
Note
  • Title supplied by cataloger
  • Photographs (20.5 x 26 cm) are mounted on rectos and versos of leaves of heavy white paper, one to a page; prints mounted by inserting the four corners into slits cut into the leaves; some prints are signed by the photographer, and/or have captions in negative; some prints have captions in pencil on versos; the last 40 leaves in the album are blank
  • Bound in contemporary album, plain pebbled dark brown leather covers with corners and spine in a similar light brown leather; ornamental gilt trim; glossy white textured endpapers
  • Part of the Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94) in Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
black and white
Content category
still image
Content type code
sti
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
28 x 34 cm (album)
Extent
1 album (106 photographic prints)
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Note
Spec. Coll. copy: in modern beige cloth clamshell case. Purchased at the 50th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, Oakland, California from Pablo Butcher, Feb. 2017.
Other physical details
matte collodion
Primary support material
paper
Secondary support material
paper
Specific material designation
photoprint
System control number
  • (OCoLC)1004777111
  • ucoclc1004777111
Label
[Photograph album of India and Sri Lanka]
Production
Note
  • Title supplied by cataloger
  • Photographs (20.5 x 26 cm) are mounted on rectos and versos of leaves of heavy white paper, one to a page; prints mounted by inserting the four corners into slits cut into the leaves; some prints are signed by the photographer, and/or have captions in negative; some prints have captions in pencil on versos; the last 40 leaves in the album are blank
  • Bound in contemporary album, plain pebbled dark brown leather covers with corners and spine in a similar light brown leather; ornamental gilt trim; glossy white textured endpapers
  • Part of the Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94) in Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
black and white
Content category
still image
Content type code
sti
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
28 x 34 cm (album)
Extent
1 album (106 photographic prints)
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Note
Spec. Coll. copy: in modern beige cloth clamshell case. Purchased at the 50th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, Oakland, California from Pablo Butcher, Feb. 2017.
Other physical details
matte collodion
Primary support material
paper
Secondary support material
paper
Specific material designation
photoprint
System control number
  • (OCoLC)1004777111
  • ucoclc1004777111

Subject

Genre

Library Locations

  • Charles E. Young Research LibraryBorrow it
    280 Charles E Young Dr N, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575, US
    34.0749691 -118.441466
  • Powell LibraryBorrow it
    120S Election Walk, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1450, US
    34.0716126 -118.4421809
  • Science and Engineering LibraryBorrow it
    8270 Boelter Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-9810, US
    34.068987 -118.442659
  • UCLA LibraryBorrow it
    Los Angeles, CA, US
  • UCLA Library Special CollectionsBorrow it
    A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575, US
    34.0749691 -118.441466

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