[Anson Brothers]

Picturesque Southern Tasmania [Port Arthur]

Hobart: Anson's Photographs.

Hardcover. Very good. Souvenir view book printed in Germany for this Australian photography firm. Undated, internal evidence places it between 1890 and 1892. 5.75 x 4.25 inches (oblong). Red paper-covered boards decorated in gilt and black, containing 14 accordion-folded photolithographic (albertype or a similar process) views. Brothers Joshua, Henry, and William Anson established their photography studio in Hobart in the late 1870s and developed a trade in souvenir views of Tasmania. They published more than one view book with the name "Picturesque Southern Tasmania" (we have seen two different ones, and there may be others). This one focuses on the penal colony at Port Arthur (which was by then closed and being promoted as a tourist attraction) and the nearby landscape. The views are: Hall and Cell Divisions, Model Prison; Exercise Yards and Solitary Cell, Model Prison; Chapel in Model Prison; Invalide Depot & Lunatic Asylum; Commandant's Quarters, From Magazine; View from the Grounds, Commandant's Quarters; Underground Cells at Point Puer; Arthur Peak and Cliffs at Point Puer; Eagle Hawk Neck; Tesselated Pavement, Eagle Hawk Neck; Blow-Hole, Eagle Hawk Neck; Entrance to Blow Hole, with Breaking Waves; Rock Scenery, Entrance to Blow Hole; and Tasman's Arch, Eagle Hawk Neck. Views are in very good condition, cloth spine of album is partially separated from rear board and boards are edgeworn. On the rear pastedown, a label from "Mrs. Richardson, Fancy Goods Importer, Richardson Street" covers part of the Anson's Photographers label. Around the edge is written in pencil: "Remember the last day with Mac. Viers. Purser Hunter at Hobart. Drive to Fern Tree Hotel Mt. Wellington. Jan 28, 1892 M.E. Hunter."