Between the Covers

Hardcover. Oblong folio measuring 15" x 10.5". Cream colored stiff boards. Contains 65 black and white or sepia toned gelatin silver photographs measuring between 2.5" x 2" and 9.5" x 11" with captions. Heavily foxed with tears and chipped corners thus good only with very good photographs with some fading, tears, and abrasions.

A photo album kept by a group of British expatriates in India in 1904. Beginning with a Christmas picnic in Muzaffarpur in 1904 the group is pictured wearing pith helmets and lounging on fallen tree branches and enjoying a Christmas feast spread out on a blanket. The picnic was held under the famous Lychee trees of the city. Various candids and snapshots are scattered throughout the album featuring family pets, children playing, and people posing in gardens. One section of photos from 1905 shows the Sonepore Race Meet featuring photos of the Commissioner's Camp, polo ground, and the animals themselves. Beginning in the 1800s the British Raj used Sonepur as the location of an annual race in November. This time had traditionally been used as an animal trade fair by the Hindu locals and some of those customs continued through the transition from fair to race. Landowners in the area set up large carpeted tents for lounging as well as accompanying sleeping and bathing tents for the elite visitors who came to see the anticipated event. For the British population it was a huge social event which not only involved horse races and polo matches but dinners and dancing. The ballroom that was set up for the 1905 event can be seen beyond the polo ground including well-dressed British women meeting with riders and their horses, and images of the encampment.

The group went into what is now present day Pakistan on a few occasions. Some photos show a tented encampment at the Khyber Pass and the rice mills of the area. One image of a British man on a horse in captioned, "surveying Khyber," and is accompanied by a photo of a group of turbaned Indian men. Two large photos show the chaos of Bannu City on market day with enormous crowds of people. In Bannu they took photos of the fort, a British church, and the people of the city. A photo from Darjeeling in 1906 shows a wedding party posing for a large group photograph.

An interesting look at the British upper class in India during the early 1900s.

Item #402363