PHOTOS BROUGHT BACK FROM FIJI 129 YEARS AGO BY THREE BRITISH BROTHERS FOR SALE AT BONHAMS

SOME OF THE EARLIEST PHOTGRAPHS OF FIJI FROM 1881 TO MAKE

£20,000 AT BONHAMS

EXPEDITION BY THREE BRITISH BROTHERS INTO HEART OF FIJI

An extraordinary journey into the heart of Fiji some 129 years ago by three British brothers, carrying with them all the heavy paraphernalia associated with early photography, returned in triumph with images that still fascinate today.

This remarkable collection of photographs taken on a journey by three Ansdell brothers has been passed down through the family and is to be auctioned by Bonhams on September 15 in the Travel and Topographical Sale in New Bond Street.

In 1881 Gerrard Ansdell (son of the celebrated sporting and animal painter, Richard Ansdell RA), set out from Melbourne with his younger brother Carrol Ansdell, in search of their older brother Richard Eden Ansdell who they knew to be coffee planting somewhere in Fiji.

They eventually tracked Richard down in Viti Levu, whereupon they all undertook an extended trip up the river during which the author recorded tribal customs, descriptions of the villages and the forest fauna. In the text he notes that towards the end of the journey his "stock of dry plates had unfortunately come to an end" and that some negatives were "spoilt on their way to England" hinting at the extraordinary difficulties that such large plate photography presented.

The publisher of the book was another of the Ansdell brothers, Harry Blair. `A Trip to the Highlands of Viti Levu; Being a Description of a Series of Photographic Views taken in the Fiji Islands during the Dry Season of 1881’, is a first and only edition of 44 large albumen prints. The book is estimated to sell for £15,000-20,000.

Another copy of this book brought into an Oxfam bookshop and then sold by Bonhams made £37,000 in April this year. The book was donated by an anonymous retired man to the Teignmouth Oxfam bookshop in Devon in late 2009, who brought in a selection of rare books which were immediately recognised as valuable by its staff.

Luke Batterham, of Bonhams Book Department, comments: “This is a very scarce book illustrated with fine albumen prints, including topographical views and an important series of ethnographic portraits. Club-wielding warriors are lined up like some class of pupils celebrating end of year photograph, but there is not a smile to be seen. One cannot begin to imagine the efforts involved in getting this early photographic gear into the interior of this heavily forested and mountainous country. It was an almost superhuman effort. These remarkable pictures make the whole exercise worthwhile.”

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com