42 MUDD, JAMES (1821-1906) Crimean view, Sebastopol, 1856? Panorama of two large-plate salt prints, signed in the plate at lower right [J. Mudd/Manchester]. 11 1/4 x 26 1/4 inches (286 x 670 mm), on old (likely original) card mount. Wear, toning and chipping to periphery of mount, scattered foxing and soiling impacting image, which is still extremely striking.
42
43
James Mudd of Manchester is best known for his images of locomotives and for a pioneering photographic study of the effects of industrial pollution (done 1857). We have been unable to determine if he visited the Crimea, and if so, when (several photographers did, in addition to Fenton, including Beato and Robertson). If not a view of the Crimea, it is hard to imagine what this highly detailed and elaborate panorama of a wasteland of torn, rutted roads represents, if not the aftermath of conflict; it has been titled in pencil on the verso of the mound “Sebastopol/Crimean War/1856,” but this ascription appears in a modern hand. It is certainly evocative of Fenton’s famous The valley of the shadow of death, and it may be perhaps be no more than that, an evocation. It is a surprisingly stark and brutal landscape image, in most regards startlingly modern. C $800-1,200 See Illustration 43 [ROOSEVELT, THEODORE] Europe, March, April, May, 1909. To Naples with Roosevelt. [Cover title]. Three-quarters leather, cloth sides with titling on the upper cover. Album, 9 3/4 x 12 inches (31 x 24.5 cm); containing approximately 200 mounted gelatin silver prints on 32 card mounts on guards, with handwritten labels and comments. Approximately 30 of these show the voyage out on the Hamburg (the balance are Italian city views); these include a photograph signed by Roosevelt of him promenading on the deck of the Hamburg; a group shot of Roosevelt with the officers of the vessel etc. Album binding worn, one image of Roosevelt defective, another (of him debarking) missing, an interesting group overall. Upon his retirement from the Presidency, Theodore Roosevelt departed the U.S. on the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition. The first leg of the trip was from New York City to Naples, Italy, on board the steamer Hamburg; after, they took a second steamer to Mombasa. The vessel left New York on March 23, 1909. The photographs in this album cover that first leg of the trip, together with extensive views of Naples and other areas of Italy, taken by someone who was on the Hamburg with Roosevelt (but who plainly did not depart with the expedition, and who travelled in Italy thereafter). C $800-1,000 See Illustration
44 detail 41 [OXFORD] Album of approximately 28 platinum prints of Oxford views. Oxford: Gillman & Co., 1900 or before. Three-quarters dark brown leather with the label of Gillman & Co. on the marbled paste-down, pebbled cloth sides, edges of guarded mounts gilt. Fourteen larger platinum prints, 9 1/2 x 11 3/8 inches (240 x 290 mm) or the reverse, mounted singly; 12 smaller images mounted in pairs, two loose platinum prints; and four albumen prints, various sizes, unmounted, Light wear to binding. With an ownership inscription “Christ Church/Oxford/1900,” but with no name; the initials R.C.J. stamped to the other cover. The views are primarily of colleges and landscapes, but include a few of undergraduate rooms, groups of undergraduates, ceremonies etc. The firm of Gillman dates from about 1880 (the firm is still in business today). At the date of this album, they specialized in platinum prints. C $500-800 16 DOYLE • DECEMBER 14, 2017 • NEW YORK
44 [SALT PRINTS] Collection of 26 salted paper prints of Dacca (Dhaka), India [now Bangladesh] from calotype negatives, circa 1850s. Various sizes, from 2 1/4 x 1 1/4 inches (55 x 40 mm) to 5 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches (136 x 118 mm), laid to thin card mounts of various sizes, some with multiple images, with identifications in an early hand in ink, two portraits with hand-coloring. A few images with minor edge tears, some images with pale tones. The group apparently extracted from a miscellaneous album of souvenirs of a residence in Dacca. An exceptionally early group of views of Dacca, together with some images of natives, colonial administrators etc., all apparently taken by an amateur photographer of some skill. At the time, Dacca was administered as part of Bengal; one of the portraits is of Charles Tierney Davidson, the Commissioner of Dacca, with his wife. C $2,000-3,000 See Illustration of detail