Automobile

Seana: Stubbins and the Colonel on tour. . . Two volume set of 131 platinum print photos recording the Brass Era adventures across Europe in a 1912 Delaunay-Belleville.

1912 · 59779 — Horsham West Sussex & Haymarket London UK: H.W.C. James A. Sinclair & Co. Ltd. 1912. Two vols. Oblong 8vo. 8.5 x 5 in. 64; 69 leaves unnumbered. including 2 calligraphic titles 63 & 68 platinum print matte finish photographs w/ images sized from 2 x 3 in. up to 3.25 x 3.75 in. on 4.75 x 7 in. prints all expertly hinged at gutter margin a few w/ pencil annotations on versos occasional light toning from the platinum salt emulsions coating the papers. Uniformly bound in striking full green morocco bindings by Zaehnsdorf gilt ruling on covers gilt inner dentelles 5 raised bands on spines title lettering ownership & dating in gilt a.e.g. marbled endpapers very slight shelfwear incremental rubbing at corners still a NF set. An exceptional pair of automobile travel albums composed of platinum print photographs by Dr. E. Stevens apparently presented to fellow Royal Photographic Society member and platinum photograph enthusiast H.W. Child. The motor car was a grey 1912 35 CWT Delaunay-Belleville depicted in 15 of the images bore the GB License Plate of BP1945 registered in 1912 to Charles Stevens c/o Dr. Stevens of Sarcelles Horsham West Sussex July 4 1912. The Delaunay-Belleville in the Brass Era was one of the most expensive and prestigious touring cars for travelers and enthusiasts whose owners at the time included Evalyn Walsh McLean original owner of the Hope Diamond as well as Mann who traveled “Round the World†in 1912 in a similar model. The intrepid travelers clearly intended to photograph and put their new motor through its paces traveling about 3000 miles. The album opens with photos of the auto loaded at Portsmouth and by ferry to Le Havre and then driving down through Normandy Alencon Le Mans Tours Bordeaux and onto Biarritz. The tour extended across the Pyrenees into Spain visiting San Sebastian followed by drives to Pau Lourdes Toulouse Narbonne and then along the South of France into Italy. The drive was not without pitfalls as they suffered punctured tires with two different images showing repairs one with a crowd as well as the photo waiting for a massive rock slide of giant boulders fallen onto the roadway and being removed by wooden wheelbarrows. They continued their tour across the Alps into Switzerland with views of the travelers at a Swiss border station and then capturing scenic vistas and driving onto Salzburg & Linz. One of the images captures advertising and awning of a “Buchdruckerei†specializing in photographic books supplies and photo albums. At that point the motorists had reached the most Eastern point and drove along the Danube route crossing overland to the river Necker Heidelberg and finally into the Netherlands with visits of Amsterdam Haarlem often with picturesque images capturing the Dutch in their iconic wooden shoes windmills canals and even electric railways. One particular image documents the “Art Store†selling Volendam silver & brass and antiques. The final image shows the car being loaded back on the steamship to England from Rotterdam. The platinum photographs were processed by James A. Sinclair & Co. Ltd. at 34 Haymarket in London specializing in photographic prints & equipment and at the time the Platinum prints were Alfred Stieglitz’s process of choice celebrating the images for their aesthetic qualities and permanence. As the Platinum prints were printed direction on coated paper with platinum salts the image was absorbed directly into the paper creating a softer and less-detailed image which was quite durable. Dr. Stevens fl. 1910-1918 who during World War I served as surgeon with the Royal Army Medical Corps joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1915 and exhibited three of his photographs presumably from this excursion including “In the Paese†“Making Port Concarneu†and “Santa Maria della Pace Lago di Como.†Child b. 1859 was a very successful merchant who by 1897 was also an active member of the Royal Photographic Society Platinum print enthusiast and automobile traveler as well. He exhibited several times with the RPS often appearing in their exhibitions from 1898-1915 the last being “Citadel and Church Dinant†shot in 1914 and displayed as an Autochrome. See: Ordinary Members The Photographic Journal Vol. 41 January 1917 pp. 32 41; Exhibition Catalogue of 1898 43rd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society 1898; 44th 1899; 45th 1900; 47th 1902; 60th 1915. H.W.C., James A. Sinclair & Co., Ltd., hardcover