PENCE, R. D.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Album of photographs taken while serving with the United States Asiatic Fleet, recording the sights and sounds of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities. A valuable pictorial record of East Asia in the immediate post-war period, almost entirely composed of amateur photographs, including over 60 shots of Shanghai, 41 of Hong Kong, and many taken in Beijing, Chefoo, Canton, and Vladivostok.The photographer was a young American sailor who was promoted to pharmacist's mate, third class in 1918 and served with the US Asiatic Fleet, which protected American shipping during a volatile period. The ship or ships on which he serves are not identified, but the early leaves of the album demonstrate that he reached East Asia via Hawai'i, likely on a transport ship.Pence's first taste of China is Shanghai. Like so many others, he finds the journey up the Whangpoo exhilarating, snapping junks, panoramas of the Bund, and foreign ships including the USS New Orleans, another vessel in the Asiatic Fleet. The city is bustling - labourers and their wheelbarrows catch his attention, as does a street sawmill, a "human pile driver", various gates, and a vendor of street food. He ventures to Soochow Creek, the famous Willow Pattern Teahouse, and the Cafe Parisien (a "popular hangout"), shooting along the way a large advert for Asahi Beer. More adventurous than many, he ventures to the Chinese City and takes a ride into the rural environs, capturing uncommon views of farms and villages.From Sh

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