PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM, THE SECOND ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR - An album of 25 FINE mounted albumen silver print photographed views, with a few other unrelated photographs, in a morocco gilt 4to album, [c.1879-80]. With a related printed work in 2 vols. (3)

PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM, THE SECOND ANGLO-AFGHAN WAR - An album of 25 FINE mounted albumen silver print photographed views of Afghanistan taken during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, some double-page, each titled in manuscript, [c.1879-80], in a decorated morocco gilt album 4to (310 x 250mm) (rubbed and scuffed, joints split). Also included in the album are 2 amateur watercolour views of Afghanistan, each captioned in manuscript but unsigned, one dated "Aug. 1880". The second Anglo-Afghan War was waged between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880. The subjects of the photographs, taken from the contemporary manuscript titles on the mounts, include "General View of Cabul" (double-page), "The Bala Hissar, Cabul" [and others of the same fortress in Cabul, with variant captions, one a double-page panorama], "Tomb of Taimur Shah, Cabul", "Ruins of British Residency, Cabul, with Gallows for the Execution of Afghans", "Ordnance Captured at Cabul", "Interior of Sherpur Encampment, Cabul, shewing part of Shere Ali's barracks", "The North West corner of Sherpur during the siege by the Afghans", "North East section of Sherpur, scene of Afghan attack of Dec. 23 [1879]", "Life in Sherpur", "Sappers & Miners' Bastion, Sherpur", "General Ross's Camp, Sydabad", "The English Cemetery at Sherpur", "View of Gundamuk", "Specimen of an Afghan Fort" and "The Chakri Minar, near Cabul". The name of the photographer is unrecorded, although his work invites comparison with that of John Burke (c.1843-1900) who is known for his photographs of the same war. In particular, the photograph of "Ordnance Captured at Cabul" in the present album was clearly taken at the same scene and at the same time as Burke's famous image taken after the Battle of Ali Masjid on 21 November 1878, although here from a slightly different angle. Several of the photographs in the present album are to be found in the collection of the National Army Museum, London, but the photographer is not attributed. The album also includes two photographs, mounted on either side of a piece of card, captioned "Nepean River" and "Near Norton's basin, Nepean river" [in New South Wales, Australia], the first with what appears to be a small passenger steamboat ferry, each photograph blind-stamped "G. Bayliss. Photo. Sydney"; together with various other unrelated photographs of European subjects, including several of Norway. With Sydney H. Shadbolt's The Afghan Campaigns of 1878-1880. Historical Division [Biographical Division] (London, 1882, 2 volumes, 4to, maps and illustrations, original green cloth gilt, rubbed, some leaves detached). (3)