A fine album of documentary photographs taken and collected by French travellers on an unusual journey through Central Asia, with many candid shots of local people indigenous to the Caucasus, Armenia, and Georgia. The final two images in the album are of a man and woman seated alternately in a horse and trap, and it feels plausible that they are the couple whose travels are recorded.
In chronological order, the album opens in the Jewish Quarter of Warsaw and proceeds via a “Relais de Poste” to Finland, showing the Imatra rapids, then on to Moscow where there are 20 or so images of sights and views including the Kremlin, “Cathedral de l’Annonciation, Grand Palais”, “Canon du Tsar” and the “Convent fe Troïtsa”. There are different types and professions captured, including a “Baptisme Russe”, “Police Russe” and a “Prisonnier Russe”.
From there they travel to Nizhny Novogrod and Kazan, where the photographer comments on the veils worn by Muslim Tatar women: “une tatarese voile pour ne pas être photographie”. In Orenbourg they see nomads shearing camels for wool, and Bashkir camel caravans crossing the Ural River. In Saratov an enormous fish caught in the Volga is proudly presented to the camera in a market, and at the Astrakhan Kalmytsky Bazar, we see gathered “types de Kalmouks et de Turcomans et de Kirgisses” as well as another shot of “Prètres Kalmouls devant leur tente”.
Following scenes of religious pilgrimage in Vladikavkaz, there are a series of dramatic Caucasus mountain views, including the “gorge du David”, the Georgian Military Road (“Route de Georgie”) with the distinctive mountain villages of the Ossetians in the foothills of the Kazbek mountain, noted as being 5044 ft. Their route was not for the fainthearted, taking them down winding mountain paths with local guides, encountering nomadic tribesmen driving their livestock. There is also a large Russian studio photograph of Mount Elbus, and a few other fine professional mountain views.
In Tiflis there are beautiful candid snapshots of the Cathedral of St Michael, the Russian market, the Armenian quarter, Cossack regiments, and the Persian Mosque.
Armenian scenes include “Lac de Gohtchai 2170m - Tombes armeniennes” as well as a boat trip to the monastery at Sévanga, described as one of the oldest Armenian churches. Also depicted is the green mosque of the Persians at Erivan, and “Akhty, dernier relais avant Erivan. Silhouette de Joseph Daird (notre interpréte Caldéen)”. Erivan also yields photos of the interior and exterior of the palace of Sardars, and an Armenian Bishop. There are two very strong pictures of Armenian snake charmers performing in the market, in front of the fortified city walls and gates to Etchmiadzin. There a handful of picturesque shots of ruins and camel trains.
Returning to the Caucasus at Koutais, there are several scenes of mountain people in the market, the “Relais de Poste” in the Rion valley, and other mountain vistas. They cross the Terek on the chain ferry, visit the spa town of Kislovodsk, where there is a good snapshot of a Circassian horseman and his dog. From Bermamyt Plateau there are beautiful landscapes including Mount Elbrus.
There are about a dozen views of Ukraine, mostly in Kiev, notably the Place de St Sophie, and shots of the Pont Nicolas over the Dniepr.
French travellers in Russia in this period usually stuck to the well trodden routes through Moscow and St Petersburg. As such, it is uncommon to find such an extensive collection of amateur images documenting the mountain people of Southern Russia and Central Asia.
