[Western Photographica]. [British Columbia]

[Wonderful Vernacular Photograph Album Capturing Scenes in the American West, with Numerous Striking Panoramic Images of the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains]

[Numerous locations, including New Mexico, Arizona, California, but mostly British Columbia: ca. 1910]. Forty-six leaves, illustrated with 232 photographs, between 3.25 x 5.5 inches including forty small panoramic images measuring around 3.5 x 12 inches, some manuscript annotations, some images captioned in the negative. Oblong folio. Contemporary pebbled leather, stamped in gilt "Grand Canyon and Canadian Rockies" on the front cover, formerly string tied but binding and leaves now loose. One image roughly removed from the album, minor chipping to some leaves, but otherwise minor wear. About very good. Item #3375

An unusual and wholly engrossing collection of western American vernacular photography, titled in manuscript on the first page, "Views taken by M.H. Fussell of trip taken by Sarah E. Fussell and himself to Los Angeles to attend Amer. Med. Asso. On return trip via Canadian Rockies camping at Emerald Lake near Field Canada as seen by pictures." The author of this inscription was Dr. Milton Howard Fussell (1855-1921), longtime Philadelphia physician and instructor of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania who was the head of the Medical Ward at Episcopal Hospital until shortly before his death. Dr. Fussell must have also had a passion for photography, as the present photographs were apparently taken by him along the course of his trip to the west coast, with many of the pictures displaying Dr. Fussell's captions in the negative. A few of the captions are written backwards, adding to the amateur character of Dr. Fussell's otherwise well-composed pictures.

While on the way to California, Dr. Fussell's photographs begin in Chicago, with a couple of small panoramas of Lincoln Park, but the scene swiftly shifts to the American West, with images of Native Americans (among them shots of "Indian children" and an "Indian Village"), a "Pueblo at Laguna," numerous shots of New Mexico (Las Vegas, Raton, and Albuquerque), several small panoramic scenes of the majestic Grand Canyon, and more. During their visit to the Grand Canyon, Dr. and Mrs. Fussell took the chance to snap portraits of each other, under which the annotation reads, "The climbers. It took 12 hours to make the trip up & down. Hot!!!" On the way to California, Dr. Fussell also took a couple of images of Kansas and Nevada before proceeding to snap about a half dozen pictures of the Sacramento Valley.

The photographs from this point forward, constituting the majority of the pictures in the album, concentrate on the latter half of Dr. and Mrs. Fussell's expedition to British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies. After visiting Victoria and Vancouver, the Fussells stayed at Camp Crusoe on Emerald Lake. This portion of their trip includes a few more images of the travelers themselves, including a shot of Sarah with a large, dead black bear. In addition to several small panoramas of Emerald Lake, Dr. Fussell captures scenes of the natural wonders of British Columbia such as Mt. Burgess, Mt. Wapta, Bow Valley, Yoho River, Emerald Glacier, Valley of Ten Peaks, Kicking Horse Canyon, Bow River, Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Mirror Lake, Fraser River, and more. The last few leaves feature other scenes in British Columbia and elsewhere, with a street scene in Banff, a view of the "Prairie Town of Suscatchewan B.C.," a handful of pictures featuring the Sierra Nevadas and several photos captioned "Over the Coast Range" taken from a train.

A unique photographic record of a West Coast excursion taken by a notable Philadelphian and his wife in the early 20th century.

Price: $5,250.00