William Bennett Album of Tibetan Photos

BENNETT, William Pyt (1880–1916). An album of mounted photographs of Lhasa and Tibet taken during the Younghusband expedition. Ca. 1903–1904. Here is what AI says it’s worth: $20,100. Cost: Bonham’s London, 27 March 2012, lot 219 - £12,500 inc. premium. William Pyt Bennett (1880–1916) was a Lieutenant (he would be killed as a Major in Montauban in 1916) in the expedition helmed by Col. Francis Edward Younghusband (1863–1942), whose aim, in part, was to assess growing Russian dominance in the region. Certain of Bennett’s captions make clear that these are not the work of an embedded photographer, but of a soldier with a camera. He was nonethless taken with the scenery, the structures and the people that surrounded him. These photographs are an important early and unfiltered source of the British military mission. Photographs taken by members of the Younghusband expedition have recently begun to come to market, although many were given or sold to museums by members of the expedition upon their return (mostly in the UK, e.g., the Royal Geographical Society, the National Army Museum, Cambridge University Library). Two albums, for instance, were sold at Sotheby’s London in 2021 (13 May, lot 180, 48 photographs, £12,600; 17 November, lot 28, 30 photographs, £5,670). The attached photocopies explain the provenance of the item. Bennett wrote to his former schoolmaster at Marlborough College — making sure to include some schoolboy Latin (“quam celerrime,” as quickly as possible) — from Tibet, explaining that he would be sending him photographs he had taken, and an accompanying letter of explanation. Oblong folio (9 7/16” x 13 5/16”, 239mm x 337mm). With 152 gelatin-silver photographs of Lhasa and Tibet, tipped-in with corner mounts to a modern photograph album, mostly 4 to a page (each approximately 3 x 4 in.), numbered in the negative, and captioned in a modern hand according to Bennett’s original annotations written in ink verso. Bound in modern red leatherette with ornamental gilt borders. On the spine, eight transverse gilt fillets, with a gilt “Henro” sticker at the head. Gilt “Henro” sticker to the front paste-down. Presented with photocopied correspondence between Bennett and John Bain (dated 1904) and Bain and Bennett’s family (dated 1916). Purchased at Bonham’s London, 27 March 2012, lot 219.

Estimation:22.420,10€

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