Skeen & Co. (fl. ca. 1860s-1920s); The Colombo Apothecaries Co. LTD. (fl. ca. 1880s-1890s); Scowen, Charles Thomas (1852-1948) & Others. Album with 77 Original Albumen Photos of Sri Lanka, Showing Colombo, Kandy, Portraits of Market Sellers, Tea Pluckers, Buddhist Monks, a “Kandian Chief,” a Female Musician, a Snake Charmer, &c., Titled: Der ferne Osten. Ca. 1890s.

Oblong Folio album (ca. 32x41 cm or ca. 12 ¾ x 16 ¼ in). 29 card stock leaves. With 77 mounted albumen photographs of various size (including two duplicates), mostly from ca. 21,5x28 cm (8 ½ x 11 in) to ca. 18,5x27,5 cm (7 ¼ x 11 in); twelve smaller images are ca. 10x13 cm (3 ¾ x5 ¼ in). Fifteen photos are signed “Skeen & Co.” in negative (some are also captioned); nine photos are signed “C.A. Co. Ltd.” in negative and/or with blind stamps “Apothecaries Co. Ltd., Photographers, Colombo, Ceylon” in the right lower corners; two photos are signed “Scowen” in negative; two photos are with blind stamps “G.R. Lambert & Co., Singapore.” Fifteen photos are on the mounts with period manuscript ink captions in German. Period maroon full straight-grained morocco, neatly rebacked; gilt-lettered title in German on the front board; moire endpapers; all edges gilt; brass fittings on the back cover. Gilt-lettered binder’s name “August Klein, Wien, Nur Graben 20” on the inner side of the front cover. Mounts slightly waved, occasional mild foxing, two images with minor repaired tears on the corners, but overall a very good album of early large interesting photos.

Historically significant, attractive collection of early and many large original photos of Sri Lanka, taken by local studios of William Skeen (1847-1903) and “The Colombo Apothecaries Co. Ltd.” (with a number of images from Charles Scowen’s negatives, which the Apothecaries bought in the 1890s); also with several portraits by a noted Singapore photographer Gustave Lambert. The photos of Colombo show Queen Street with the Old Colombo Lighthouse (two copies), Maradana and Pettah suburbs, Main Street with the old Town Hall in the background (two copies), Beira Lake, Skinner Road, Colombo harbour and city line, the “Bridge of Boats,” post office, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Chatham Street, Grand Oriental Hotel, city canals and banyan trees, Hindu temple in the Pettah suburb, interior of the Buddhist temple in Kelaniya, Colombo racetrack with running horses and a crowd of spectators, &c. There are also images of Peradeniya railway station, the Temple of Buddha’s Tooth in Kandy, a tea plantation, Sri Lankan country roads, villages, the famous corridor of Rameswaram Temple (Tamil Nadu, India), portraits of Buddhist monks, workers using elephants, market sellers, tea pluckers, a “Kandian Chief,” a female musician, women in traditional costumes, &c. Twelve smaller photos at the rear were most likely taken by the Singapore studio of Gustave Lambert (two bear his blind stamps) and portray Thai, Malay and Indian men and women, monks, a snake charmer, &c.

Overall an attractive, extensive collection of early and many large Sri Lankan views and portraits of the locals.

“William Louis Henry Skeen was a commercial photographer active in Ceylon between 1860 and 1903. Skeen's father, William Skeen, started in Ceylon as the first officially appointed Government printer in 1849. In 1860, he purchased the existing photographic studio of J. Parting in Colombo for his son, William Louis Henry Skeen. The firm of W.L.H. Skeen & Co. had become the most successful photography company in Ceylon by the 1870s and continued on under a number of different managers until about 1920” (National Portrait Gallery).

“Colombo Apothecaries Company was established by J. Smith Finlay and W.M. Smith in Colombo, Ceylon in 1883. From a small mercantile establishment the Company grew rapidly into a large general store selling most commodities. The name Colombo Apothecaries Company was established in 1892 and by this time already had a photographic department. As an expansion of this department the company acquired the negatives of Charles Scowen Company and moved their studio to Kandy where the climate was considered better for photographic work than Colombo. After the acquisition of the Scowen portfolio, the Colombo Apothecaries Company produced a fine catalogue and started selling their photographs worldwide. The Company continued a photographic department in Colombo where they had their darkrooms and production facilities” (Luminous-Lint).

Charles Thomas Scowen “was active as a photographer from 1871 to 1890, working in Sri Lanka and British India in the early 1870s. By 1876 Scowen had established a studio, Scowen & Co, in Kandy and by the 1890s, he had opened a second in Colombo. His work, which included landscapes and portraits of Malay women, is noted for its lighting, technically superior printing, and strong compositional qualities” (Wikipedia).