Two Albums with 192 Original Gelatin Silver Snapshot Photos Taken by British Travellers, Including 142 photos from a Car and Railway Trip Across New Zealand’s North and South Islands, 29 photos of Southern Australia from Perth to Sydney, and Views of Rarotonga, Tahiti, Moorea, Celebration of Crossing the Equator, etc. Ca. 1925-1926.

Two Oblong Quarto albums (ca. 21x29,5 cm). Each with 12 card stock leaves. With 192 gelatin silver photographs mounted in the windows, ca. 6x10 cm (2 ½ x 4 in); all but two photos with period ink captions on the mounts. Two period light-brown full cloth Johnson’s “Bedouin” albums with pictorial gilt stamps on front covers. The albums very mildly rubbed on extremities, very mildly faded, but overall a very good collection of strong interesting images.

Interesting collection of original snapshot photos taken by British travellers during their trip to Australia and New Zealand in October 1925 – April 1926. The party left Tilbury on the River Thames on board R.M.S. “Narkunda” and proceeded to Australia via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. After their arrival in Perth, they rounded Australia from the south on board S.S. “Dimboola,” visiting Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The party then went on a three-month-long car and railway trip across New Zealand’s North and South Islands, from Auckland to Invercargill, and returned home on board R.M.S. “Makura”.

The New Zealand part of the trip encompasses most of the albums, with 142 lively photos taken on the way (over ninety – on the North Island, and over forty – on the South Island). Among the photos are street and general views of major cities, as well as of lesser-known or smaller towns (many with clearly visible street and window signs), railway stations, tram cars, hotels, racecourses, administrative buildings, bridges, ferry crossings, natural sites, etc. Over thirty photos depict Auckland and modern-day Auckland region (Auckland harbour, Zigzag trail, Grafton Bridge, “Tennis at Tudehope’s Lawn, Remuera,” Albert Park, two views of “Auckland City from Mount Eden,” four views of the crowd and horses at Ellerslie Race Course during the 1925 Christmas season, two photos of Auckland Zoo animals, “Rangitoto from Milford,” Takapuna Bay, Kohimarama beach, St. Heliers, Whitford, Howick, Waiwera, Puhoi River, “clay road after rain, Waiwera – Takapuna,” Piha, hills and “clay road” near Karekare, Waikato River, Hunua Falls on Wairoa River, Hunua Gorge, etc). Other photos of the North Island show Thames, Waihi (a street, gold mines), Lake Hamilton, Waikato River at Hamilton, Rotorua and nearby lakes and sites (“bath house & gardens,” Malfroy geyser, “Maori church Ohinemutu,” “Blue Lake” or Lake Tikitapu, “Green Lake” or Lake Rotokakahi, Frying Pan Flat, Boiling Lake, Rotomahana Lake, Tarawera Crater, Tikitere or Hell’s Gate), Onerahi (harbour, “Woolley’s summer house”), “warm rocks at Hikurangi,” Waimoto (hotel, road views), the travellers’ car stuck in the mud near Uruti, ferry over the Mokau River, New Plymouth, Stratford, Whanganui, Palmerston North (post office, the main square, “illuminated tennis court, Club Hotel”), Napier, Hastings, Woodville railway station, rail tracks at Taumarunui, Wellington (views taken from Grand Hotel, House of Parliament, Oriental Bay, Breaker Bay, Island Bay, Tihaiti beach), Paekakariki, etc.

The views of the South Island show Blenheim, Nelson, New Westport railway ar Glenhope, Buller River ferry, Grey River, Greymouth (quay, post office), “Tracey’s Bridge, Wainihiniki, washed away by flood,” “electric locos, Otira tunnel,” Christchurch (cathedral, River Avon, Scott Memorial, New Brighton), Ashburton (railway station), Timaru, Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki, Mount Cook, Stocking Glacier, Red Lake & Mt. Sebastopol, a Leyland “Royal Mail” bus on “Mt. Cook service,” “suspension bridge over Hooker River,” Dunedin (First Church, the Octagon, harbour, railway station), Balclutha, Invercargill (“low tide,” gardens), and others.

The photos of Australia show Perth (general view from King’s Park, Hay Street, Murray Street, gardens, cityscape from Savoy Hotel), Freemantle (South Beach, fishing boats, “S.S. Dimboola leaving Freemantle,” “last of Freemantle”), Adelaide (port, corner of King William St. & Rundle St, River Torrens, Hindmarsh Square, North Terrace, King William St. with the Town Hall & post office, Henley-on-Torrens Regata held in December 1925, Glenelg suburb), Melbourne (rail tracks taken from the Flinders Street railway station), and Sydney (harbour and sailing boats, Walker Memorial Hospital, Gorleston Gorge). There are also views of Raratonga Island of the Cook group, four views of the Society Islands (Moorea and Tahiti taken from the sea, Papeete street, “R.M.S. Makura at Tahiti”), four views of the celebration of the Equator crossing, and a dozen views taken on the way to Australia (leaving the dock at Tilbury, “shelter deck, R.M.S. Narkunda,” Port Said, the coast of Aden, Colombo, Cocos Islands taken from the sea).

Overall a large lively collection of original snapshot views, documenting life in New Zealand in the mid-1920s.