Tasmania Stereograph View Proof sheets of original photographs.
New York: Underwood & Underwood, Ca. 1905 - 1908. Five folio proof sheets of photographs for stereo cards of Tasmania, a total of 63 original tipped on photographs. From the archives of Underwood & Underwood which was dispersed in the 1980s. Some of the views were made into stereoviews, indicated by a check or tick mark, and others were not used. The whole archive was stored in the same way. Mounted on 5 folio sheets consecutively numbered illustrating Tasmania: Hobart, Launceston, New Norfolk, farm views, wharves, etc.
Underwood & Underwood were founded in 1887 and were an American firm that made and sold stereo views and later rented images to newspapers and other publications. In 1895 they were the first to enter the education field with the production of stereo views and, in 1898, they began marketing the Underwood Travel System - boxed sets of views of a particular country with descriptions of the scenes printed on the back in 6 languages. They then began to hire photographers and buy images from all over the world. These proof sheets were used to choose the particular view selected for the stereo card. The numbers on the sheet were used to locate the negatives (mostly glass plate), which were kept in large files. The majority of the images are unpublished and most of the negatives were destroyed.
Deaccessed from the Company Archives in the 1980s. Folio, hand numbered stock sheets with 9 large silver bromide photographs per page, each with an image number in pen noted below the image, as well as in the image. There are also tick marks and red notations, "O", "OK", and "KO" indicating the view's importance to the firm.
The photographs, some with captions, capture a moment in time of life in Tasmania just before the introduction of the automobile.
The photographs include: S. W. from Scott St., Hobart; S. over Hobart (a large group of children in period dress recline on hillside in the foreground); S. W. from P. O. Hobart, (a bird's eye view of main street with J. Ross Saddles in foreground; and 2 views of the harbor from the P. O. tower which create a panoramic view); Liverpool St. Hobart (building at right with Paldrey's shop banner, "Welcome to our Xmas Sale", and Dobson's further down the street); Elizabeth Street "one of the principal business streets" with a Kodak sign visible; multiple charming images of women & children picnicking in Fern Tree Bower; ring barked trees near Fern Tree Bower; Views of Launceston including bird's eye view south towards the town from the gorge; 2 views taken from a ship looking down at the arriving crowds and horse-drawn carriages entitled, The landing place; several views from the mail boat "Loongana" leaving the dock at Launceston with building marked "Turbine Steamer Loongana, Melbourne & Launceston Express" (Loongana was the first ship registered in the Southern Hemisphere with steam turbine propulsion); several views looking up the gorge at Launceston and of the suspension bridge at the upper end; and several views of New Norfolk on the Derwent River showing the river looking north from the bridge, & hops cultivation, apple orchards and a horse drawn reaper of oats.
5 Folio sheets (19 x 14 1/4"), photographs are mostly 3 3/4 x 4 1/4" mounted on both sides of sheets, usually 6 to 9 on a side, the sheets numbered in pencil in the upper right corners. Photographs bright and clean; folio sheets with original punched holes for filing at one edge, slight tears at sheet edges not affecting the photographs. Very good overall. Item #2564
Price: $1,750.00