Bhavnagar (India) Album of Captioned Architectural and Other Nineteenth Century Photographs. [Second of two albums]

[See Lot 216 for the first of these two complementary albums, with some photographs being common to both albums]

This album owes its origins to an original presented in the early-1890s to his advisers and officials by the Maharajah of Bhavnagar, a state in north-west India. Unlike the first album (Lot 216), nothing of the original album except the photographs was able to be saved for a new album designed and made by the restorer.

The original of this album was presented to Richard Proctor-Sims (RPS), great-grandfather of the present owner and for many years the architect-engineer and a close adviser to Bhavnagar state and its maharajah. [See Wikipedia for a long obituary of RPS]

RESTORATION. For a description of this process, see Lot 216.

IMAGES

• The images chosen for this lot are mainly those which are not repeats from the first album.
• One of the main groups shows ponies being trained in the Paddock for polo, riding or dressage. Apart from his professional activities, RPS was in charge of this pony training (see Wikipedia).
• Another group covers the visit of the then Prince of Wales, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, to Bhavnagar. (Prince Albert predeceased his mother, Queen Victoria, so his younger brother, Edward, became the new Prince of Wales - and later King Edward VII.) We see the arrival of the royal train, the reception line on a huge carpet on the platform, a welcoming arch with the feathers and motto ("Ich Dien") of the Prince of Wales, the banqueting hall, and a silver presentation model and its carved wooden case of the hydraulic crane commemorating the laying of the foundation stone of Bhavnagar's new harbour works by the Prince of Wales on 17 March 1890.
• Finally, there is a group photograph of the Prince of Wales with the Maharajah and seven members of his entourage (including RPS) on the grandstand of the Paddock. 

CONDITION. The process of lifting the emulsions from their substrates has left a very few small flaws in the pasted-down images. There is no other damage and the new album is complete and otherwise as-new.

DELIVERY. In the event that both albums are bought by buyers in India, the owner will be prepared to deliver them personally for the same cost as a normal courier service.