Photograph Album of a Trip Around the World, Including Photographs of China.

(Circa1934-1935).. Approximately 330 black and white photographs (including a handful of commercial images produced for the tourist market), most approx 11 x 7 or 14 x 8.5 cms (or landscape), a few larger, three coloured postcards of Japan tipped onto 46 black album leaves, mounted in a brown textured leather laced album 26 x 34 cms, in very good condition. A substantial and evocative album of photos and postcards (mostly black-and-white, and some of them captioned on the reverse) from a world tour undertaken in 1934-1935 by an unnamed American socialite and her friend Ethel. The photos begin with shots of passengers enjoying an ocean voyage which takes them across the Pacific via Hawaii to Japan, touring Kamakura and Kyoto and then on to China. The album includes a large number of photos of China, including pictures of the Forbidden City in Beijing, a Chinese funeral, the Great Wall, camel trains near the Great Wall, and Suzhou.

The album records their travel to the Philippines, and then, on the MS Tkisadane to Bali and Java. There are numerous photos of Borobudur, and some taken in Bandung. The journey continues to Singapore, arriving on 15 December 1934, and Penang by December 17th. The travellers continue to Calcutta, where they stay in a flat at 63 Park Street, and to Benares and Fatepur Sikri, where they arrive in January 1935. The Indian photos include images of temples and of landmarks like the Taj Mahal, as well as classic images of colonial life - bungalow gardens with the residents relaxing in deck chairs. The duo continues to Bombay, where they board the M. S. Marnix van Sint Aldegonde for the voyage to Europe, in the company of a dashing young man named 'Bims' Hembry. They stop in Cairo and visit the pyramids on camel-back before continuing to Paris and London, where the journey seems to end, additional photos of scenes from Southeast Asia (possibly Thailand) and one of Hermits Rest in the Grand Canyon are included on later pages. .