BRASTAGI PHOTO ALBUM 1921-1928.

BRASTAGI, SUMATRA PHOTO ALBUM.

About this Item

[Brastagi 1921-1930, n.p.]. Silk covered oblong photo album, 26 x 18 cm., very good, minor edge rubbing, contents clean, contains 22 large b. w. photos, each ca. 19.5 x 14 cm., one triple size panorama 55 x 13.5 cm., mounted on stiff paper. This early photo album was made by an English-speaking resi- dent of the area, likely a British subject based on a photo of him in the ruins of a building probably burned down, where he stands in shorts & walking stick with penned date of "22 September 1927" at the top. The album is bound in two-tone brown over buff colored silk, cord tied. The last few photos have penned dates, above stating "1921, 1923, 1924, 1928," with an album cover date of "1930" penned in white, as is the name Brastagi. It is possible, that the first Brastagi Hotel was burned to the ground, and was a steel-reinforced structure [where the photograher stands], and this album records the newly-rebuild structure. The album begins with a very lovely three-photo panoramic view of the Brastagi area, a farming village just below a great volcanic mountain. The 2nd shows the hotel before that mountain, nestled in the wooded area. The 3rd shows the int- erior of the hotel, with its stair-case, period rugs & lamp, hat rack, easy chairs. The next shows the "smoking room" with more easy chairs & small tables, and a grand fireplace, clearly this hotel was up in the highlands where quite cool temperatures are common. One can deduct from this, that the Hotel was a great get-away resort for those foreigners who probably live and worked in the low lands where it is sultry with very tropical daily heat. Another shows the verandah, with large view windows, rattan chars and small tables. Next is a dance hall [?] or entertainment room of grand scale, it has many stuffed lizzards & animals on the walls. The formal dining room is beautifully set up with white table cloths, napkins and silverware arranged. Then a nice view from what is possibly a large golf-course surrounding the hotel with a foreign guest in the background all decked out in his white tropical clothes and matching pith helmet. There are three superb photos of ethnic types: first a young girl in native jacket with elaborate silver necklace, wearing a pillow-like head cover and some sort of a folded hand-woven sarong on top; an old woman with large safety pinned jacket, wearing massive silver earrings that clip on to a folded cloth head cover; an old man, wearing a cloth head cover & heavy cloth tunic and home-woven cloth over one shoulder, with a Kris [sword] tucked into his elaborate silver buckle-belt. The next shows a very elaborate native "Long House" typical of Sumatra, with its inverted "boat hull" grass roof & connect- ting buildings. Afterwhich is a lovely photo of a group of several Sumatrans-three young women sitting on bamboo poles on the ground, picking lice from the hair of the girl who is seated before her, while a nu mber of other on lookers are fascinated by the person taking the photo, assuming its the Brit with a camera. Follwed by a few more photos of scenic Sumatran spots: river; six young children along the beach two girls have babies tied to their backs, as they mug for the camera; small native buildings in the background. Another "Long House" complex with several buildings beneith the coco palms, in an idyllic scene. A river scene with a boy standing on a water buffalo, with many other buffalos in the water cooling off. A super shot of "Hotel Brastagi" with a good number of 1920's motor cars, most of which are soft top types, with one showing a foreign man and his two little daughters all dressed in tropical white clothing, a lonely electric pole and light at the far right, with penned date "1921" written above. A photo of a volcanic crator, now a small lake with steam rising-with penned caption "Sibajah" above. Side view of the hotel and its outer buildings, with "1923" penned caption. The ruins of a building, shows the creator of the album."22 Septembe. Seller Inventory # 25040201

Bibliographic Details

Title: BRASTAGI PHOTO ALBUM 1921-1928.