Views of India album, between 1857 and 1863

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Summary

Creators:

Bellairs, Edmund Hooke Wilson, 1823-1898

Abstract:

Extent:

1 Linear Feet (1 album)

Language:

Collection material is in English.

Preferred citation:

Views of India album, between 1857 and 1863, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.R.35.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2017r35

Background

Scope and content:

The album contains 54 views of central and northern India that appear to have been taken by a skilled amateur photographer. Present are views of forts and gateways (Kalinjar; Chunar; Bharigarh), palaces, temples (Khajuraho; Bhadaura), ghats, landscapes and waterfalls. Locales depicted include places in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh such as Mirzapur, Banda, Chunar, Punnah, and Mussorie. One photograph depicts the Nagoda chief in Durbar, while another shows cotton weighing in Mirzapur. The British presence in the area is evident in a few images such as those showing "Mckinnon's house" and "our garden at Kingscraig," both in Mussoorie; the Rewa survey station at Kalinjir Fort, and the church at Banda.

Two cartes-de-visite are associated with the fly leaf, which bears the dedication: To the Revd. Edward Cole, M.A. / from Edmund & William Bellairs, / in memory of a kind deed. / October, 1863. The carte-de-visite adhered below the dedication portrays a seated man with a young girl standing between his legs, and has a handwritten caption attached to its lower edge that reads: Capt. E. H. Bellairs & Cassandra. The second carte-de-visite, inserted at the page opening, is a portrait of an unidentified man seated at a desk and writing in a book. The photographer's imprint on its verso reads: Mason & Co. / 28, Old Bond Street, London / 9 Promenade Villas, Cheltenham / 20 St. Giles Street, Norwich.

Two notes from different hands and dates are also inserted in the album. The older note, written in pencil on buff laid paper, describes the making of the Banda & Kirnie (?) prize money. The second, written in ink on blue paper lists the accomplishments of Professor Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, the winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The album was bound in diced calf gilt by J. R. Brooks of London (blind stamp on front paste-down), with gilt spine and edges and a brass catch and clasp on the foredge. The front cover bears the gilt monogram E. C. C.

Eighteen of the photographs are numbered in the negative, 13 of which have the monogram: WM. One photograph displays the monogram, but no number. Due to the placement of the numbers and monograms near the bottom edge of the image it seems likely that in other cases monograms and numbers have been cropped from the prints.

English captions are pencilled on the mounts.

Biographical / historical:

Edmund and William Bellairs were the sons of Sir William of Mulbarton, Norfolk (1793-1863), who as a member of the 15th Hussars served in campaigns against Napoleon in Spain, France and at Waterloo. The inscription and gift of this album to the Reverend Edward Cole thus might be related to the death of Sir William. Both sons served in the British army: Edmund Hooke Wilson Bellairs (1823-1898) retired as a captain in 1852 and settled in New Zealand where he was appointed a member of the upper house of the country's first parliament. He later moved to Biarritz, France, where he was Vice-Consul. Major-General William Bellairs (1823-1913) had a distinguished military career, serving in the Crimea, the West Indies, Canada, Gibraltar, and South Africa.

Acquisition information:

Acquired in 2017.

Processing information:

This finding aid was written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2018.

Arrangement:

Arranged in a single series: Series I. Views of India album, between 1857 and 1863.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Waterfalls -- India
Temples -- India
Ghats (Architecture) -- India
Fortification -- India
Albumen prints -- India -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- India -- 19th century
Cartes-de-visite -- Great Britain -- 19th century
Photographs, Original
Places:: India -- Description and travel

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.