Archive of photographs belonging to a Dutch East India Company coffee plantation overseer in East Java, early 1900s.

A$1,250 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

This small archive of 32 photographs taken with a variety of camera types, and for the most part by different amateur photographers was compiled by a Dutch East India Company employee, and documents his life as an overseer on a Company coffee plantation in East Java in the early 1900s. The backs of many of the photographs bear his inscriptions in Dutch, and although he identifies himself only in the first person, he helpfully identifies several other men among them de Ronde, Wattecamp, Wendelaer, Collet, and Hogen which should enable further research to uncover the location of the plantation. All of the photographs are unmounted and are generally in good condition. Any significant defects are noted in the descriptions below. I. View of the railway station, with colonials and local workers at Mrawan, East Java. Large format silver albumen print, 220 x 280 mm. A superb topographical shot almost certainly taken by a professional photographer. The detail is so sharp that the signs MRAWAN and SS (Staatsspoorwegen) can be easily read. II-VII. Six views taken on a coffee plantation, showing cultivation, infrastructure, Dutch East India Company overseers and local workers. Silver albumen prints, format 150 x 200 mm (a couple with small corner loss). VIII-XVIII. Eleven views taken on a plantation, including group portraits of Dutch colonials and their families, an informal game of tennis, and digging of drainage channels. Silver albumen prints, format 125 x 180 mm. (Two are duplicated

• Binding: Hardcover

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