John Reddie Black
1876-1877
The Far East. A Monthly Journal, Illustrated with Photographs… New Series

Journal
Bonhams - London
Courtesy of Bonhams, London (Sale 15313 - India and Beyond in Books and Photography, Lot 347 - 26 Oct 2007)
 
The Far East. A Monthly Journal, Illustrated with Photographs… New Series, vol. 1-2 only, 78 albumen prints mounted on card with printed borders and captions, first volume in contemporary half morocco gilt, spine lacking, second volume in similar contemporary morocco gilt, upper joint cracked, spine torn with some loss, 4to, Shanghai, for the Proprietor at the "Far East" Printing Office, [July 1876-June 1877]; sold as a periodical
 
"It was in May 1870, that [Black] first conceived the idea of publishing a newspaper in Japan, illustrated with photographs of the Far East. On the last day of the same month the 1st number appeared" (Introduction). Although Black had intended the periodical to be "ephemeral", he found that his subscribers were binding copies up at some expense, and that he could charge a considerable premium for back issues. The project grew, and the new series, commenced in 1876, aimed to encompass China.
 
Originally Black had chiefly relied on his staff photographer Michael Moser and other contributors for his images of Japan, but he struggled to obtain photographs of China for the new series, and eventually had to travel to Shanghai to take them himself (see Terry Bennett, Old Japanese Photographs, p.280). Images include: buildings, shops and temples in Shanghai, merchant's wife, itinerant cobbler (Tung Kai Tu), Chinese Colonel of Infantry, Lieutenant-Governor of Nankin, gardens of the old American legation (Yedo, Japan), Shanghai autumn regatta, a small number of British political figures in Japan and China, punishment of the Cangue (Hongkew Police Station), Soochow, Sikawei, small feet of a Chinese woman, Foochow, members of the Mission Conference at Shanghai.
 
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