Lot 332
Africa - Cunha Moraes, J. A. da
Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: 16 January 2013 at 10:00 GMT
Description
Africa occidental, album photographico e descriptivo. Lisbon: David Corazzi,1885-1888. Oblong 4to, 4 volumes, map and 157 plates only (of 160) original green cloth gilt, gilt endpapers and edges, a little rubbing and dust-soiling to covers, corners a little bumped, some hinges weak or detached from text block, occasionally repaired with Selotape, some very slight spotting (4)
Footnote
Notes: Cunha Moraes's series, Africa Occidental is an example of anthropological photography in Portuguese-speaking Africa in the second half of the nineteenth century. Moraes has been dubbed, "...one of the earliest outstanding photographers in Angola..." [Dias] and was a successor of the Moraes family photographic firm established in Luanda in the 1860s. Africa Occidental was first published in monthly installments from 1882, before being compiled into these four volumes by Lisbon publisher David Corazzi between 1885 and 1888. Cunha Moraes's aim was to show interesting anthropological studies of Lunada's daily life, in order to attract more Portuguese settlers to the area. Indeed, the work is dedicated to Portuguese explorers and is possibly the first study to, "...explicitly...document through individual portraits the social and racial contrasts within Luanda's daily life..." [Dias, Jill R. Photographic Sources for the History of Portuguese-Speaking Africa, 1870-1914]
Volume 3 is probably lacking three plates. ABPC lists an edition as incomplete, having '159 plates only'.