1900 PARIS EXPO EUROPEAN TRAVEL KING HUMBERT'S FUNERAL PHOTO ALBUM

Item #640

13.75 x 11.25” black album with “Photographs” on the cover in black. This charming album appears to be from around 1900 and features 95 black and white photos from travel to Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Munich, Italy, Germany, and London. The front inside cover of the album contains writings to Italy and Switzerland written in a playful script which is carried on for the black and white annotations of the photos. Photos measure between 3.5 x 4.5” and 4.5 x 3.5” and are slipped into slots within each page. The annotations identify locations and buildings. The travelers visited many famous landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, various buildings from the 1900 Paris Exposition, the Alps, Mount Vesuvius and the city of Pompeii, and Eiger Glacier. While most of the photos are from the cities, there are also some gorgeous shots of nature. Aside from the visit to the Paris Expo, another important event briefly featured in a couple of photographs is the funeral procession for King Humbert in Rome. The spine of the album is cracked and the pages are becoming loose. One photo is missing.

The poems (each written by a different poet) to the countries at the front of the album read as follows:
To Italy
“Thou art the garden of the world.
The home of all art yields,
And nature can decree;
Even in the desert,
What is like to thee?
Thy very weeds are beautiful,
Thy waste more rich
Than other climes’ fertility.
Thy wreck a glory,
And thy ruin graced
With an immaculate charm
Which can not be defaced.”

Switzerland
“Through the parting clouds only
The earth can be seen,
Far down ‘neath the vapor
The meadows of green.”

Raphael’s Epitaph
“Living, great nature feared
he might outvie her works;
And dying fears herself to die.”.

Price: $399.00