ILLIS, MARK.MareMagnum
CHINA FLOODS OF 1931Biblio.com
A collection of photographs recording the China Station posting of a British naval serviceman including images of flooding in Hankou and Wuhu.
1927192997China: primarily 1927-31. A summer of devastation A visual record of an eventful period in East Asia in which four photographs of Wuhu show houses half underwater while fourteen of Hankou capture the extent of the disaster and daily life at high water including a Chinese air mail seaplane landing on the floodwaters. The product of a summer of intense rainfall the 1931 floods were among the worst natural disasters of the 20th century. In Hankou the Yangtse burst through the city's protective dyke on 1 August submerging an area the size of England and killing tens of thousands. The waters reached a level of 16 metres above the seasonal average smashing all previous records. Printed on two sheets of thin paper the edition of the Hankow Herald dates from a month after the city's flood defences gave way. It reports on urgent efforts to support refugees including the reaching of an agreement with local shipping companies to transport the displaced down the river and the efforts of the relief committee. A box at the head of the first page gives the watermarks for the day before and the drop in the level of the receding floodwaters. The subject matter and captions imply that the serviceman was posted to Royal Navy vessels - HMS Widgeon and HMS Cockchafer - patrolling the Yangtse and undertaking anti-piracy operations. The collection comprises vernacular shots of Shanghai including fine vistas from the roof of the Union Jack Club Shasi stretches of the river and Changsha and Hankou during winter. In two flames from a burning American Oil Company ship at Hankou climb into the sky. Several images - mostly vernacular - are dated October 1927 and relate to SS Irene a merchant ship captured and sunk by pirates near Bias Bay that month. Landscape album 135 x 225 mm with 112 gelatine silver photographs c. 55 x 8 to 65 x 110 mm corner-mounted on black card leaves white manuscript captions on some leaves some loose caption slips. Black cloth commercial album housed in original card box. Together with 14 gelatine silver photographs c. 60 x 80 mm all but 1 with manuscript caption on verso subsequently trimmed housed in printed brown envelope of Porter Studio Shanghai. Also with 16 gelatine silver photographs mostly c. 90 x 140 mm 7 smaller 9 printed as postcards 8 with manuscript caption on verso housed in printed brown envelope of Nagakiyo Photo Studio Hankou. Newspaper formed of 2 letterpress sheets 365 x 230 mm. Light silver mirroring a little toning and edge-wear; Hankow Herald with old folds; album box with recent functional repairs: overall a very good collection. hardcover
Peter Harrington · Royaume-Uni1 500,00 £GB≈ 1 712,70 €
