Sanshichiro Yamamoto - Peking - 1906

Sanshichiro YAMAMOTO 山本讃七郎 (1855-1943) was a Japanese photographer, born in Okayama Prefecture. From 1882 to about 1897 he ran a photograph studio in Shibahikage-cho (near the present Shimbashi Station) in Tokyo, Japan. When news of the Boxer Uprising swept the world, he quickly traveled to Peking (Beijing) to photograph the historic activities of foreign troops in the capital, including the Japanese. After photographing the aftermath in Peking (Beijing), he eventually settled in Tientsin (Tianjin) and opened his third photo studio (Yamamoto Shōzō Kan or Yamamoto Syozo House), from which he sold photographs, souvenir photo books and colored postcards, taken in and around Beijing and Northern China. Yamamoto’s photos were published in Views of the North China Affair, Picturesque Views of Peking, and View and Custom of North China.

This booklet is the first edition of Yamamoto's (Famous Faces of) Peking from 1906... A collection of 90 photographs of Beijing. Very rare and well preserved, Yamamoto's second, more extensive study of Beijing, shows the city, its gates, the palace and interiors, temples; plus various citizens and traders as well as the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall. With descriptions in English. Yamamoto had previously documented the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion before he formally moved from Tokyo to China. Engraved, decorative cover, bound with silk cord. The cover is loose, as is the case with a fair number of copies. Folio-sized. The booklet is otherwise complete and in reasonable condition. Light yellowing at the edges but the contents are clean and intact.