The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pictorial record of Victorian trip around world on sale
AUCTION: Album giving insight into far-flung places in days gone by going under the hammer in Perth
The idea of taking a gap year to see some of the world is nothing new, as a Perthshire discovery revealed.
An album of 114 albumen prints chart one local man’s journey during 1886/87, taking in Tasmania, New Zealand, Honolulu, America and Canada.
The album, to be sold on Tuesday in Perth, was spotted by auctioneer Nick Burns during a local house call.
“When I saw the album sitting on a sofa I instantly thought it was something interesting, and I wasn’t let down,” said Mr Burns.
“The pictures are fantastic, a photographic record of scenes that are no longer there. “The detail is extremely good. “There are old advertising signs, sailing clippers in dock and people going about their daily business.
“The condition is great. The pictures have been enclosed in the album and forgotten about.”
Highlights include a scene in New Zealand after a volcano erupted, the Golden Gate at San Francisco before the bridge was built, and the people of a Maori village.
The pictures were taken by local photographers and would have been acquired, at some expense, by the man who made the trip.
His identity is unknown but he is thought to be among several groups of men pictured in the album, and to have been from Perthshire.
Bids are expected to come in from around the world for the album, which has a pre-sale estimate of £1,000 to £2,000.
It is being sold on the first day of a twoday sale at Lindsay Burns & Company, King Street, Perth.
The sale can be viewed today (9am to 2pm), tomorrow (1pm to 3pm), and on Monday (9am to 5pm).
The auction also includes clocks, furniture, paintings, glass and weapons, with many items from two large Perthshire country houses, Boreland and Foswell.