eBay Item 7331865939: 19th c. Japanese Lacquered Album w Albumen Photos
Wow…I just saw this auction on BoingBoing and it’s amazing. It’s an album of fifty photos from Japan in the 19th century, just of landscapes and people going about their lives.
It’s an amazing snapshot of daily life in a time and place completely detached from ours. As if modern Japanese culture wasn’t different enough, these are from over one hundred years ago. Admittedly the time is when Western influences had started to permeate the culture (look at the houses in Kobe and the sign in the above photo), but it’s still impressive. The pictures of landscapes and things like temples are one thing, but seeing the people of this culture immortalised is a wonderful thing to look at.
$1,500, though? It’s just beyond my funds and I’d be bidding on it without a second thought if it was cheaper.