Photo 61/1

Portfolio containing prints mounted on light, variously coloured card measuring 455 x 588 mm, each mount blind-embossed with Tripe's monogram of a sun in splendour, and the initials 'L. T.' entwined with the motto 'By thee I draw'. The prints are enclosed in a specially made dark blue portfolio, on the inside of which are pasted three printed plans drawn by Henry Yule of the temples of Ananda, Thapinyu and the Gauda-Palen, together with the following text:

'The accompanying views, taken by the undersigned when attached to the Embassy to Amerapoora in 1855, in justice to him as a photographer employed by the Government of India, should not be looked upon as a challenge to photographic criticism; but as a series of views of subjects interesting on account of their novelty; many having been retained solely on that account when they would certainly have been otherwise discarded. As excuses, too, for these defective photographs he would wish it known, that he was working against time; and frequently with no opportunity of replacing poor proofs by better. Also that, from unfavourable weather, sickness, and the circumstances unavoidably attending such a mission, his actual working time was narrowed to thirty six days. If criticism be provoked, it is trusted that her chiding will be mild. [Signed] L. Tripe Bangalore 20th Feby/57.'

With the ending of the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 and the annexation of Pegu, the East India Company instructed the Governor-General Lord Dalhousie to persuade King Mindon Min to sign a treaty formally acknowledging the extension of British rule over the province. An abortive embassy sent to Calcutta by the King in late 1854 to negotiate the return of Pegu yielded no concrete results, and in the following year Dalhousie (with no great hope of success), despatched a British mission to attempt to negotiate a settlement. This was headed by Arthur Phayre, with Henry Yule (Under-Secretary of the Public Works Department) as Secretary. In addition to their diplomatic duties, part of the mission's instructions was to obtain accurate information about the country, culture and people of a land little-known to Europeans. To this end Colesworthy Grant was sent as artist and Linnaeus Tripe as photographer to the mission. Tripe took some 200 architectural and topographical photographs during his time in Burma and notwithstanding the above disclaimer, many are of a very high photographic standard in addition to their documentary importance as among the earliest surviving photographs of several parts of Burma. The portfolio covers the following geographical locations:

Prints 1–5 Prome.

Print 6 Thayetmyo.

Prints 7–11 Yenangyaung.

Print 12 Tantabeng (village north of Yenangyaung).

Prints 13–25 Pagan.

Prints 26–36 Sagain.

Print 37 Ava.

Prints 38–95 Amarapura.

Prints 96–99 Mingun.

Prints 100–120 Rangoon.

On his return to India fifty sets of the 120 prints were made between 1856–57, with an additional 500 prints for public sale. Of the former, four sets are held in the India Office Collections. In addition to Photo 61/1 (the brightest set, in very fine overall condition), Photo 61/2 and 61/3 are also in portfolio form; the fourth set is pasted into the Archaeological Remains and Antiquities series (Photo 1000/34, prints 3450–3569).

For a detailed account of the mission, see Henry Yule, 'A Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855' (London, 1858, reissued with introduction by Hugh Tinker, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1968); for Tripe's photographic career, see Janet Dewan and Maia-Mari Sutnik, 'Linnaeus Tripe, Photographer of British India 1854-1870' (Toronto, Canada, 1986). See also: Janet Dewan, 'The Photographs of Linnaeus Tripe. A Catalogue Raisonné' (Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, 2003).