Historically Interesting Album with 40 Original Gelatin Silver and Platinum Photos of French Guinea, Showing Conakry, Samou River Rapids and Waterfalls, the “Baptism” of a Morane Plane of Conakry “Aero-club,” Children’s Costume Party in Conakry in March 1935, Susu Women and Girls, Kolente River Bridge Under Construction, etc. Ca. 1935.

Oblong Octavo album ca. 19x27 cm (7 ¼ x 10 ½ in). 23 stiff card leaves. With 44 mounted original photographs of various sizes, including 42 gelatin silver and platinum photos ca. 13x18 cm (5x7 in), and two smaller gelatin silver photos ca. 9x14 cm (3 ½ x 4 ½ in). With six loosely inserted platinum photos, image size in average ca. 12x17 cm (4 ¾ x 6 ½ in). Nine photos captioned, signed “Bés” and /or numbered in negative, twenty-eight with period pencil ink captions in French on the margins. Loose photos: three captioned or signed (“Bés” or “Yann[?]”) in negative, five with period manuscript ink captions in French on the mounts. Period brown card binding fastened with a string. A painted scene with an African hut and a manuscript title “Conakry, 1935” on the front board. Boards soiled, with chipping and minor losses on extremities, one photo with a corner torn off but present, one of the smaller photos stained, one loose photo with a loss of a corner not affecting the image, several photos slightly faded, but overall a very good album.

A historically interesting album with original photos of pre-World War II Conakry and interior French Guinea. Seventeen photos of Conakry show the Corniche promenade (four views with two featuring the lighthouse on one of the Los Islands), the Lazaret in the Boulbinet Bay, Conakry railway station, Place le Moal with the monument to Dr. Victor le Moal (1876-1908, the director of the public hygiene of Conakry’s Coronthie district in 1905-1907, the head of the Pastoria Station of the Paster Institute near Kindia in 1907), “Jardin du Gouvernement,” “Salle des Fêtes,” Camayenne beach (parking, changing cabins and two Frenchmen resting in beach chairs), Camayenne gardens, Ballay Hospital (now Ignace Deen Hospital), Conakry public gardens. There is also a nice scene of “baptism” of a Morane plane of Conakry “aero-club” (featuring Joseph Vadier, the governor of French Guinea in 1931-36, and his wife breaking a bottle of champagne over the side of the plane), a group portrait of European children from a costume ball organized by the government in Conakry in March 1935, and a portrait of seamen in the Conakry “port des caboteurs.” Other interesting images show the photographer’s car going across a river on a small cable ferry, a bridge over the Kolente River under construction, a Susu village, eight views of the Samou River rapids and waterfalls (including two group portraits taken during a “picnic européen aux Grandes-Chutes”), two views of a road in Bass-Guinée under construction, portraits of Susu women and girls, and others. Overall a nice atmospheric album with some unusual views of French Guinea in the 1930s’.