Beschreibung:

China—Tung Hing (and others?)Photographic views of Foochow and vicinity. [Foochow, circa 1890; including images from the 1870s] Large oblong folio (325 x 460mm.), 50 glossy collodion prints (235 x 287mm., or the reverse), mounted recto and verso on card mounts within a printed red border, nearly all captioned in ink on the mount in English, original green morocco-backed cloth boards (retailed by the "Foochow Printing Press, established 1864", with their small printed label on upper pastedown), large print of Queen Victoria (1897) and three other prints pasted onto endpapers, titled in gilt on upper cover, marbled endpapers, some spotting and dust-staining to mounts, wear and tears to endpapers, spine rubbed, covers worn A RARE ALBUM OF 50 PHOTOGRAPHS OF FOOCHOW (FUZHOU) AND VICINITY PRESERVED BY THE FAMILY OF THE ORIGINAL OWNER DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. The photographs include at least 6 images that can be attributed to Tung Hing (numbers 19, 27, 29, 33, 39, and 44), originally taken in the 1870s, however some of the photographs in this album differ from known images by Tung Hing, such as the view of monastery at Yuen-Foo (number 32) and the "Island Joss House", both of which were also photographed by Lai Afong and John Thomson Three of the images are also present in the John Oswald albums (dated 1880-90) held at SOAS (numbers 2, 12, and 33). The original owner of this album was William Graham who grew up in Brampton, Carlisle, and emigrated to China in 1881, at the age of 23. He secured employment with a firm of tea inspectors, Adamson, Bell and Company, in Foochow. With the anticipated bankruptcy of Adamson Bell, in 1890 Graham joined the much larger Jardine, Matheson & Company who had a regional office in Foochow. Jardine Matheson had extensive interests in China, and between 1890 and 1903 William worked as the company’s agent, dealing with tea exports and reporting to them on the opium trade. As Jardine Matheson’s Tea Inspector, William became an influential figure in the large expatriate community in Foochow, and in due course became the Vice-Chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce in the town. In December 1895, the now 36 years old William married 21-year-old Ursula Winifred (‘Queenie’) Westall, daughter of a fellow Foochow merchant, Robert Richard Westall The marriage took place at the British Episcopal Church and, for the official ceremony, at the British Consulate in Foochow. William Graham left Foochow in February 1903 to join his wife in London; she had returned from China many months earlier. Within weeks he was on the move again. In late April 1903 he arrived in New York looking for job opportunities in America. Unfortunately, on June 4 while in New York, he collapsed and died in an estate agent's office. He was just 48 years old. Graham left his entire estate to his wife. This album, however, passed to his sister. List of the photograph captions: 1. Pagoda Anchorage; 2. Houseboat, Kushan Mountain; 3. Ewo, Messrs Jardine Matheson & Co. Hong, Foochow; 4. Foreign Settlement, Foochow; 5. Foochow [general view]; 6. Foreign Residences, Foochow; 7. Foochow. Racquet court in the hollow; 8. ‘[Tesu./Jesu./?] Poa’ residence, Foochow; 9. Foochow [hillside road]; 10. Foochow Club on the right. British Consulate next door; 11. Same as opposite – from other angle; 12. Foochow Episcopal Church; 13. Foochow Racquet Court; 14. View on Race Course, Foochow; 15. Foochow native city from Woo-shih-shan [Black Boulder Hill]; 16. Foochow Bridge; 17. Foochow Bridge *Kulian - several foreign residences for summer; 18. Mandarins grave; 19. Mandarins grave; 20. Canton Guild Club House, Foochow; 21. Road to the little wood, Nantai Island; 22. The old Racecourse; 23. Pagoda in the native city; 24. “The Gap”. Entrance to “Yuen-Foo” branch from Pagoda; 25. A view [of a bridge] on the “Yuen Foo”; 26. View on the road to the waterfall “Yuen-Foo”; 27. The Waterfall “Yuen Foo”; 28. Waterfall Road; 29. Beginning of the steps to Yuen Foo Monaste