Félix Potin - 500 Célébrités contemporaines Collection Félix Potin. 19e Mille. - 1900-1901

Paris, Jouet (ca 1900-1901). Oblong album (36.6 x 24.0 cm). title page + 38 thick paper pages with 510 original photographs (mostly 7.5 x 4 cm) by a.o. Boyer, Nadar, P. Petit, L. Disderi or E. Pirou. All kinds of celebrities are depicted such as Kings, Explorers, Doctors, Politicians, Militaries, Architects, Dramatists, Artists, Cyclists. The last two pages are the "Table des Matières" [Table of contents]. Original decorated cloth (rebacked).
= These are all original silver prints from the turn of the century. It was an extremely popular album and a number of editions were published. This one belongs to the earlier ones and is complete with 510 photographs. Most of the photographs are in an excellent condition, except about 12 that have a varying degree of yellowing or browning (of which half are more severe). One page (p. 10) containing the politicians with the lower left part covered in other paper, but no photographs can be lacking, because the total comes to the complete number of 510 pieces. Front panel a bit discoloured to the outer right side and spine plus endpapers renewed. Overall condition is very good, apart from the few images that show deterioration (mostly yellowing -> see pics) to some degree. Contains such famous people as: Louis Pasteur, Jules Henri Poincarré, Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen, David Livingstone, Henry Stanley, Victor Hugo, T.A. Edison, G. Eiffel, A. France, E. de Goncourt, F. de Lesseps, Guy de Maupassant, Lord Chamberlain, O. Mirbeau, Puvis de Chavannes, Tolstoi, G. Verdi, J. Verne, R. Wagner, E. Zola, etc etc.