Japanese Albumen Prints

[FletchSan]

Hi All,

 

I thought i'd share something that i've treasured all my life. My grandfather didn't bring back a sword from WW2 however he did bring back something else which is a Japanese album of hand painted albumen photographs from the meiji period. He fought the Japanese in New Guinea and found the album in a fox hole. There are 99 photos in the album including everyday scenes, cities, temples, samurai and even the royal family. The photos are from the original plates and hand painted and some of them quite rare I believe.

 

I've taken a few photos and thought some of you may be interested!

 

cheers,

 

Ben

 

 

[Greg F]

Hi Ben they're great pictures. Very impressive. Thank you for sharing.

 

Greg

[Brian]

Albumen is egg white. I have edited the title and description

[FletchSan]

It's in reference to the albumen silver nitrate print which actually uses egg white as part of the process.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albumen_print

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/266993

 

So you can change the title back

[Brian]

Ah....interesting fact.I guess it would have to be "albumen print album" then, or just albumen prints.

Will edit accordingly.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting prints.

[seattle1]

Hello:

 Thanks for posting as they are terrific. Some are seen in various books on old photography in Japan, for example the young Meiji and the Empress, along with the guys with the three polearms, but others I don't recall seeing. I am sure we would like to see more if you would care to post.

 Arnold F.

[Alex A]

Cracking pics!

[Greg F]

Would love to see more too if possible. Cheers.

 

Greg

[Bazza]

Good touché Ben!!!  Most enjoyable, thank you for posting.  Not wishing to be pedantic and inviting a riposte, rather than "mid 1800s" I would suggest "later 1800s".  These are clearly of the Meiji period sometime after 1868.

 

Bestests,

BaZZa.

[FletchSan]

Thanks guys - I'll have another go at photographing them with a better camera and take a few more photos and edit the original post later on today.

 

Yes, I think you are correct Bazza - they would be post Meiji though I believe there are a mix of famous photographers who visited Japan at that time from Europe.

The album itself is probably 1880s with most of the photos being 1870s and 1880s.

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[SteveM]

1873, maybe? Look at the entry here... I think this is your man.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchida_Kuichi

[FletchSan]

I photographed the entire album (99 photos) with a better camera and I have updated the original post and added a few new ones - given the upload size restrictions I just included some of the photographs of people in the original post. I'll attach some of the the landscapes to this one.

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[FletchSan]

In the spirit of ANZAC day this Monday, here is a photo of my grandfather inspecting the foxhole where he found the album.

 

cheers,

 

Ben

 

HALF WAY UP LONE TREE HILL, WAITAVALO AREA, WIDE BAY, NEW BRITAIN. 1945-03-16

SERGEANT F. ELLINGHAM, 2ND FIELD AMBULANCE, ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

[SAS]

Sad times for both sides.

[FletchSan]

Here are a few more - last ones I promise Enjoy!

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[Greg F]

I found myself saying WOW on nearly every photo Ben! I love looking at them, thank you for posting more photo's. Having these with the photo of your Grandfather is pretty special. Congratulations. All the best.

 

Greg

[Wayben]

Great photos, very interesting.  Thanks for posting them.

[FletchSan]

Thanks guys - glad you got to enjoy them. I haven't actually shown it to many people as it has been locked away in storage for a long while - so great opportunity to post and share it here.

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[Gordon Sanders]

You are welcome to post more. They are amazing

[Greg F]

Yeah I would love to see the other 49 pix too! Cheers.

 

Greg

[javier]

Ben the pictures are amazing ! Thanks for posting them! I would love to see the rest of them!

 

Javier

[Dr Fox]

Ben priceless. Consider digital copies to preserve these. The reproductions would be amazing.

[FletchSan]

Hi All,

 

I've been meaning to upload the rest of the images for a while - so finally got around to doing it today. I'll split them into a few posts given the number of photographs.

 

These are the remaining images featuring people, the rest will be landscapes.

 

Enjoy.

 

Ben

[FletchSan]

Final landscapes

 

[FletchSan]

cont.

[Greg F]

Just excellent Ben, thanks for sharing the rest. I get a lot of pleasure looking at them. Cheers.

 

Greg

[Brian]

Thank Ben, appreciate your effort.

[Red Sun]

I really enjoyed those, thanks for sharing.

 

Red

Neil M.

[FletchSan]

Hi All,

 

I have been very busy carefully scanning the prints from my album in high resolution and have created a Redbubble store so others could order prints and enjoy them also

 

I've only scanned and uploaded 42/97 though will continue to add to the collection over time. If there are any photographs that people would like available on the store let me know and I'll move it to the top of the list!

 

https://www.redbubble.com/people/Fletchsan/shop?asc=u

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[FletchSan]

I got a bit carried away and created a web site as well The plan is to have a gallery of all images and research and document them on the site as well as a link to the redbubble store so people can order high res prints if they so desire. I also scored another album with an additional 50 photos which I'll be uploading

 

http://www.photosofjapan.com

 

cheers,

 

Ben