Photo 1145

Quarto volume measuring 290 x 241 mm, modern rebinding in half-leather and blue buckram, containing 34 albumen prints. The original boards have been retained separately: these are in full brown leather with decorative work and the title Photographic Views of Australia stamped in gilt on the upper board and the Australian coat of arms on the rear board. In addition to the original photographic prints, the album contains 14 engraved topographical views of the Melbourne area, extracted from a contemporary illustrated newspaper or magazine. These come at the end of the volume and are probably later than the photographs, which date from around 1859-60. The photographs are unsigned, but print 3 can be attributed to the Melbourne photographer Barnett Johnson with some confidence (see note at print 3). The majority of the remaining photographs, similar in style, date and format, have also been attributed to Johnson on the basis of this evidence. Prints are captioned in ink in a contemporary hand beneath each image. Exceptions are prints 31-34, which are appear to be by a different hand and were possibly added to the album at a later date. The bulk of the photographs record the architecture and topography of Melbourne at a period of hectic civic growth in the wake of the Victorian gold rushes of the 1850s. There are also a few photographs of the Dandenong area.