Hose. Album of photographs of Sarawak. [c.1884-1900], the Hose family copy, with three books from Hose's library

HOSE, CHARLES AND ROBERT SHELFORD

Album of photographs of the county and people of Sarawak. [c.1884-1900]

THE HOSE FAMILY COPY, oblong folio (305 x 393mm.), 169 PLATINUM PRINTS (average 104 x 146mm., or the reverse), one platinum print of Charles Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak (signed by him) after Basano, mounted on thick card, recto and verso, each with a printed caption pasted on the mount, original brown half morocco over green cloth boards, spine gilt, gilt edges, upper cover titled in gilt, slight wear to edges of mounts and binding

WITH 3 BOOKS FROM CHARLES HOSES'S LIBRARY, comprising:

Lagden, Sir Godfrey. The Native Races of the Empire. London: W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1924. FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO CHARLES HOSE, 8vo (223 x 145mm.), photographic plates, original red cloth, spine gilt, [Charles Hose, bookplate], [Chapter IX, Sarawak, pp. 212-218], minor spotting, hinges starting, rubbed

Hose, Charles. The Field-Book of a Jungle-Wallah. London: H.F. & G. Witherby, 1929. FIRST EDITION, 8vo (220 x 135mm.), plates, original orange cloth gilt, spine sunned

Lucas, Sir Charles. The Empire at War. Volume 5. London et al.: Humphrey Milford for Oxford University Press, 1926. FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO CHARLES HOSE ("From the Oxford University Press & Sir Charles Lucas to his fellow writer in the volume Dr Hose, Sept. 1926”), 8vo (214 x 140mm.), plates and maps, dark blue cloth gilt, [Section IV, Sarawak, pp. 424-425], slight wear to cloth

RARE PHOTOGRAPHS OF SARAWAK. THIS PHOTOBOOK GIVEN BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER CHARLES HOSE TO HIS WIFE. AN EXCELLENT COPY.

Charles Hose (1863-1929) went to Borneo in 1884 as a civil servant to work for Charles Brooke the Rajah of Sarawak, founder of the Sarawak Museum. Hose eventually became a member of the Supreme Council and a judge of the Supreme Court. When he retired he returned to Norfolk where he spent his days teaching about Sarawak and its peoples. He married Emilie (Poppy) Ellen in 1905 and they had two children. His most significant publication was The Pagan Tribes of Borneo. Hose was an enthusiastic photographer and the Sarawak Civil Service List states: "While in Sarawak [Hose] distinguished himself as a geographer, anthropologist and collector of natural history specimens. His numerous journeys in the Baram District, which he was the first Officer to explore thoroughly, brought him into contact with many interior tribes, who, through his influence, came under Sarawak control and made peace with Sarawak tribes". Robert Shelford (1872–1912), was a British entomologist and museum administrator, working as the Curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching. 

The album opens with a series of images taken in and around Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, however the majority of photographs show Dyak life and culture (including head-hunting), with ethnographic portraits, architectural views and cultural pursuits.

PROVENANCE:

Emilie Ellen Hose (wife of Charles Hose), signature on front free endpaper