Photo 404

The collection can be divided into two parts:

Prints 1-14 Albumen prints mounted on card with descriptive letterpress captions pasted beneath each photograph. These prints are in poor condition, with considerable fading and dirt-staining. This series of views shows India Office furniture exhibited at the Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum) in 1896. For a later series of views (in better condition) of these pieces, together with the catalogue of the exhibition, see Photo 90.

Prints 15-55 Post-bound album containing prints mounted on card with descriptive typescript text. This collection of photographs of India Office furniture was compiled by W. H. Mathews as part of a larger inventory of furniture and other objets d'art in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (see letter of 5 Oct 1970 pasted into front of album).

In addition to original photographs, this collection also contains various documents and articles, including the following: xerox of Inventory of the furniture at the India Board including the Office of Enquiry, Customs & Excise taken May 1828; inventory of historic items in the Home, Foreign and Commonwealth Offices; typescript history of the East India Company's furniture by J. R. Lloyd, dated May 1959; typescript entitled Mr Jupp builds the India House by Beryl and Norman Kitz; lecture by Stanley Sutton on the history of buildings occupied by the India Office Library and Records, given on the occasion of the award of the Sykes Memorial Medal in 1969.