C. G. Mannerheimin valokuvia Aasian matkalta 1906-1908 = Photographs by C. G. Mannerheim From His Journey Across Asia 1906-1908
82: Otava, 1990. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Text in Finnish and English. 150 pp.
In 1906 C.G. Mannerheim, then a cavalry colonel, set out on a horseback journey commissioned by the Russian general staff. It was to take him across Asia, from Samarkand to Peking, where he arrived two years later. Mannerheim's assignments on the way ranged from military reconnoitering and surveying work to inguiring into current conditions and public sentiments in Chinese Turkestan and the province of Gansu. His activities also extended to archaeological and ethnographical research. On his 14.000-kilometre trek he secured several collections of value to Asian studies, as well as more than a thousand photographs.
Until now these pictures have been relatively neglected. However, they show Mannerheim to have been a confident photographer with an eye for interesting subjects. His camera takes in everything from landscapes, horses and military drill to folk dances and opium dens. The images add up to an authentic and colourful portrayal of a remote, bygone world, of little-known peoples, and of many things and ways of life now irrevocably lost.
This is the first book devoted exclusively to Mannerheim's photographs. It contains 87 plates, many of them previously unpublished. Excerpts from Mannerheim's own travel journals complement the pictures. Near Fine / Near Fine. Item #1476
ISBN: 9511113577
Price: $50.00