[Nicely arranged Victorian souvenir album filled with 52 albumen photos of the Cologne Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Norwich Castle, Worcester Cathedral, a couple bustling street scenes, ships on the Thames, Cardiff Castle, and the Cornish coast near Penzance].

[Westbourne Grove, London: Francis Frith, John Gibson, ca. 1891]. 4to. 12.25 x 10.25 in. [26 unnumbered leaves], thick paper stock. With 52 tipped-in albumen photographs, sized from 2.75 x 4.25 up to 7 x 9 in., some with embossed Frith Series stamp, 1 w/ Gibson Penzance in negative. Emerald green Victorian cloth over thick beveled boards, decorative motifs on front cover in gilt & black, gilt ruling on spine (minor wear to corners, slight bumping, inner hinges repaired), still a VG exemplar, w/ stationer’s label on front pastedown for W. Whitely, Westbourne Grove (fl. 1888-1895). This Victorian souvenir photo album offers appealing sepia-tinted views of historic and important European and British sites in the last decades of the 19th century. The opening large albumen photo of the Cologne Cathedral rising towering over the surrounding city appears to have been taken by Anselm Schmitz (1839-1903), who shot and sold a wide range of images of the famed landmark. Included as well are images of the exteriors and interiors of Ely Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Worcester Cathedral by Frances Frith, with several exterior and interior views showing the results of the 19th-century restoration effort. The compiler had a definite interest in the architectural details of doorways and portals, with many of the images focusing on historic city gates, cathedral portals, as well as naves. The photo of Norwich Castle by Frith incorporates the wrought ironmonger’s stall of Fitt & Parke Stalham who were responsible for the iron fencing, and decorative iron work elements surrounding the castle; a bustling market scene with tea merchants, book stalls, and many other vendors filling the image with Cathedral looming in the distance; the stark and brooding landscape near Cardiff Castle and the coastal town of Penarth, Wales; as well as the Cornish coast, ivy-covered castle ruins, and the town of Penzance. Frith (1828-1898) noted photographer, and entrepreneur made several trips to Egypt from 1856 through the 1860s, and later established his very successful studio in Riegate, Surrey. It is now known that many photographs stamped the “Frith Series,” were often taken by other contemporary associates of Frith’s studio, including Robert Napper, Frederick William Sutton, Hugo Lewis Pearson (Japan), and Frank Mason Good. John Gibson (1827-1920), along with his sons Alexander and Herbert, took some of the most remarkable and historically significant photographs of the Victorian era, and their vast archive of glass plate negatives offers an invaluable visual resource for Penzance and West Penwith. See: Seven Roads, Gallery of Book Trade Labels: W; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Collection Francis Frith (2017).