The album contains 15 silver albumen photographs of Melbourne, taken mainly from the series C. Rudd's new views of Melbourne (1886-1887) by Charles Rudd (1849-1901). They show Collins Street, Melbourne town hall, the public library, Parliament House, the Court of Law, Government House and various other buildings and infrastructure, as well as botanical gardens such as Fitzroy Gardens. The photographs of Sydney were the work of the renowned Australian photographer Henry King (1855-1923), born in England in 1855, who emigrated to Australia with his family in 1856. He worked as a photographer at J. Hubert Newman's studio in Sydney before opening his own studio in 1880. King gained recognition for his photographic studies of Australian Aboriginal people and his scenic views of Sydney. He died in 1923, leaving behind his wife, son, and three daughters. His glass negatives were acquired by J.R. Tyrrell after his death and are now held by the Powerhouse Museum. King is one of Australia's most significant early photographers. The album contains seventeen of Kings photographs of the harbour, including Farm Cove and the Circular Quay, Government House and interior and exterior photographs of the town hall, King and George Street, the Mutual Life Association Building, the General Post Office and the Ferner Botanical Garden. Rural New South Was appears in nine photographs, including images of Illawarra National Park, the Hawkesbury River and a series of outdoor photographs taken along the coast at Blackwall and dated July 1895.
This curious album of 58 photographs from France, Egypt and most importantly, Australia, opens with a section with six photos from Marseille, showing street views, the city harbour, the Avenue du Prado and the castles.
The ten photographs from Egypt depict both the cultural highlights of the country, such as the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Citadel of Cairo and the Palace of Gizeh, as well as ordinary Arabian villages and street scenes. They stemmed from the ateliers of the Abdullah brothers of Constantinople. The Abdullah Frères, namely Viçen (1820-1902), Hovsep (1830-1908) and Kevork (1839-1918) Abdullahyan, were three Ottoman brothers of Armenian heritage who gained international fame as photographers during the late Ottoman Empire. Some evidence suggests that he may have collaborated with the Zangaki Brothers, and he may have been the official photographer for the Universal Company of the Suez Canal. Later, he worked in partnership with the British-Italian photographer, Antonio Beato.
With an owners inscription in pencil "a appartenu Alfred Schmid", some photographs are captioned in black ink or pencil detailing the places. With a small label from the bookshop that sold the album: "Papeterie Sauwen-Jehotte" in Antwerp. The edges are somewhat bumped and some browning and foxing throughout. Otherwise in good condition.