47 albumen photographs, each approximately 9¼x6½" or reverse, mounted on both sides of album leaves, each with typed or printed caption on slip affixed beneath image. Album is 9¾x14½, modern quarter morocco & cloth, with original portion of front cover cloth titled "Hawaiian Photographs" mounted on front cover.
Exceptional album of Hawaiian photographs featuring signed portraits of Hawaiian royalty, spectacular scenic views, scarce pictures of towns, Hula dancers, etc.; the album was formerly owned by John Sherman, a longtime Representative and Senator from Ohio, sometime Secretary of the Treasury and briefly Secretary of State. The album was likely created for presentation to him during his tenure - Sherman was involved in the negotiations of the reciprocity treaty during the early 1870's; he was also Secretary of State when Hawaii was annexed in 1898. Internal evidence dates the photograph between 1872 and 1877, as noted in photocopies of letters from the Hawaiian Historical Society and the Bishop Museum which accompany the album. Among the photographs are portraits of King Kalakaua, Queen Kapiolani, Leleiohoku (appointed Successor to the Throne), Kamakaeha (sister to the King), and Likelike (sister to the King); each of these is signed by the subject. Other portraits include Lunalilo, sixth King; Queen Emma; and Princess Kealikelani, with Samuel Parker and John Cumming holding frawns over her head (a famous, published photograph). Other photographs include Palace, Honolulu; New Government Building, front view; Royal Mausoleum, Honolulu; Hawaiian Grass House; U.S. Marine Hospital; View in Central Honolulu; Hawaiian Canoes, Diamond Head in back ground; Cocoanut Grove - Waikiki, Oahu; Hawaiians Crossing the Pali; Hawaiians Eating "Poi" - the National Dish; Hawaiian Hula Dancers (wearing cloth skirts, not the grass skirts donned for tourists); Mililani School; and more. Complete listing upon request. There are two additional photographs, on a leaf from a different album, with holograph captions: Honolulu - King's Palace, and Honolulu - Avenue of Palms. Among the supporting material accompanying the album is a photocopy of an auction announcement from 1969, with material from the estate of John Sherman, among which is described this album. A letter from the State of Hawaii Historical Records Branch indicates that most of the portraits seem to be by the photographer Menzies Dickson, and at least one by H.L. Chase, but the photographer(s) of the scenic views could not be identified.
Condition:
Marginal dampstaining to the mounts not affecting images, some mounts with chips to corners and margins, modest fading to some images, very good, with custom-made folding cloth box.