Paraná Pine, An Album of 33 Original Photos of the Logging, Sawmill, and Shipping Operations of M. Lepper & Cia., in Santa Catarina, Brazil
Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brasil: Foto Mario Prugner.
Undated; likely 1960s. Oblong photo album, 7.5 x 11 inches, flexible green vinyl with titles stamped in gilt on the upper board; with 33 original photographs mounted to both sides of 17 thick cardstock leaves, interleaved throughout with patterned tissue guards. Each photo has a printed caption. The first tissue guard is creased and chipped, the terminal leaf shows a few minor spots of soiling and dampstaining, else about fine.
Since the sixteenth century, the Paraná pine (Araucaria angustifolia) has been prized as Brazil's "most important timber tree." But technical advances in commercial logging and milling, combined with encroaching agriculture and non-native timber plantations, led to the loss of 97% of the tree's native habitat in just three tree generations in the twentieth century. Those advances are in full display in the comprehensive photo essay in this album, which is captioned in English and clearly intended as a marketing appeal to American and European consumers and investors. Company pride shines through in every photo, from the views of the soaring and majestic forests to the felled "giants" and beyond. We follow the logging, milling, transport, and shipping process from forest floor to saw mill to tanker ship. The equipment and facilities are modern, spotless, and ferociously efficient.
Item #19860
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