Photo 124

Prints 1-62 The main part of the collection consists of 62 albumen prints now loosely tipped onto modern archival card and enclosed in Secol sleeves. These have been dismounted either from album pages or card mounts and in the cases where original captions existed (just under half the total) these have been transferred onto the new mounts. This part of the collection comprises a very fine series of sympathetic portrait studies of individuals and groups of East Bengal (modern Bangladesh and Assam). The photographer is at present unknown, but it is possible that these photographs were prepared in response to the Government of India's call for representative portraits of ethnic types of the various regions of the sub-continent. They appear to be the set of photographs recorded as arriving at the India Office in early 1863. Several of the prints show signs of some re-touching of the negative (see in particular prints 9 and 11) and this may have been prior to published reproduction of the images, although no such publication has yet been traced. Although the portraits are of individuals from a fairly wide geographical range, all the photographs appear to have been taken in or around the same temporary studio built onto the side of a European house. This studio, constructed from wicker panels with an open area in the roof to admit light onto the subject can be partially seen in several prints. It is most clearly visible in print 52. See also print 47 where the length of muslin cloth draped beneath the skylight to diffuse the harsh light falling on the sitter can also be seen.

Prints 63-72 Ten loose prints. These comprise portraits of ethnic groups including Nagas, Kohls, Singhpos and Bhuteas. These prints (apart from print 72, a late print of an 1860s photograph by Samuel Bourne) are later than the first group and appear to be unconnected with it.