Between the Covers

Hardcover. Small quarto measuring 10" x 10". Maroon cloth with "Kodak" stamped in gilt on the front board. Contains 100 sepia-toned or black and white gelatin silver photographs measuring between 1.5" x 2" and 3.5" x 3.5" with captions. Very good photo album with foxing on the pages, worn edges, and small tears with near fine photographs. A photo album of Kodak prints taken by a visiting American during Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The celebration took place in June of that year on “the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.” The occasion was also used as a “Festival of the British Empire” and celebrated both the Queen and Britain’s vast empire. The photos are taken in London and show the streets covered in flower garlands with hordes of people crammed in to see the parade featuring the passing monarch. Victoria would later right in her diary, “The streets, the windows, the roofs of the houses, were one mass of beaming faces, and the cheers never ceased.” Two of the photos are captioned, “royal carriage,” and show Londoners waving their hats and cheering for their queen. Also included in the album are snapshots from the Jubilee Naval Review taken from the deck of the U.S.S. Brooklyn which was sent on its first assignment to take U.S. representatives to the Jubilee celebrations. Seen in the review are numerous flagships as well as the Vanderbilt yacht. One page shows U.S. Marines on the *Brooklyn* standing at attention as the Queen’s ship passed and waving their hats in another photo. British Naval officers and their well-dressed wives and escorts are seen posing on the deck of the ships. The final pages of the album are a continuation of their trip with photos of the group visiting castles, staying at Oxford, and playing badminton. The images depict Victorian life and travel for the well-to-do. One section shows a rowing competition that they attended with photos of women with parasols reposing in small boats, watching the rowers. An aesthetically pleasing interesting collection of early Kodak snapshot photography surrounding an eventful trip to England by wealthy Victorian-era Americans.

Item #406497