Publisher's brown cloth binding with gilt titles to front panel and blind stamped decorative borders.
Cover title: Grocott & Sherry's Souvenir of Johannesburg.
Title page: Grocott & Sherry's Album of Johannesburg.
3pp (title page and introduction) followed by 51 full-page plates depicting early Johannesburg, twelve years after it was founded (including some images of the mines and mining works) and 2pp (publisher's adverts).
Binding solid. Contents clean. A very well preserved copy.
Grocott & Sherry's Album of Johannesburg is a rare late 19th-century photographic souvenir album published by Grocott & Sherry, a prominent Grahamstown-based printing and publishing firm established in 1857 (originally Grocott's Penny Mail). Active during the early gold rush era, the firm expanded into Johannesburg markets, producing illustrated guides and albums to capitalise on the city's rapid growth as the "Golden City." This album, dated 1898, features 50 sepia-toned photographs (facing pages only) of Johannesburg's landmarks, mining operations, street scenes, and panoramic views, the Witwatersrand's industrial boom. No textual narrative beyond captions; aimed at tourists and investors. The firm, known for similar works like Album of Grahamstown (1898), ceased major operations by the early 1900s after mergers. Copies are extremely scarce, with most held in institutional collections rather tham for sale.
- Binding Condition: Very Good
- Overall Condition: Very Good
- Size: Oblong 8vo. (28,5 x 22cm)
