Lot 91: WILLIAM JOHNSON (active 1852 - mid 1860s)

Photographs of Western India In 3 volumes. Circa mid 1850s-60s. Ex-libris copy. Volume I, 'Costumes and Characters' with 86 albumen prints. Volumes II and III, 'Scenery, Public Buildings, Churches, Temples, &c.' with 100 and 101 albumen prints. Each approximately 71/2 x 91/2 in. (19 x 24.2 cm.) or the reverse. Mounted on one side only on two-toned card, each numbered in sequence in pencil on mount, a few mounts with library perforated stamp, not affecting images, each with bookplates of Brooklyn Public Library and L. F. Butler inside front cover, bound en-suite in half red leather, gilt, titled and with image in gilt on front cover, titled in gilt with library shelf numbers in white ink on spine, g.e. Each volume: 161/4 x 13 in. (41.3 x 33 cm.) (3) NOTES A rare and very extensive selection from the work of William Johnson, a founder member of the Bombay Photographic Society, who is better-known for his collaborative work Indian Amateurs Photographic Album (1856-58). He was also the author and photographer of Oriental Races and Tribes, Residents and Visitors of Bombay (1863-66), the first ethnological work published on India to use photographs. While several of the portraits in this compilation are repeated in these better-known works, this offers a more comprehensive selection. A smaller proportion of the landscapes or architectural photographs appear in other publications. This work has no text or publication details and the lack of other known examples suggests that, although it was possibly intended for a wider public, it was actually produced in an extremely small quantity.