Album of the Dutchman Eugène Dauw.

48 b/w albumen prints, 7,8 x 7,8 cm, ms. captions.

Kept in an original green cloth obl. 8vo Kodak album, flat spine, a.e.g.

Souvenir from an eventful trip to the Sahara between December 1899 and May 1900 made by the Belgian automobile travellers and adventurers Eugène Dauw and his friend Pierre de Crawhez. Preserved letters (not present here) from Crawhez to a befriended journalist clearly focus on the often violent confrontation between the travellers and the local population. Dauw and Crawhez often found themself stuck in a mass of curious locals who found the visits of such automobile tourists a source of potential financial gain. The album shows the duo in or beside their motor car, visiting monuments, local spots, events and, quite spectacular for the time, the Sahara desert. France: the Col du Lautaret in the Alpes, "La Corniche" of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a Marseille boulevard. Italy: Pisa, Rome (Castel Sant'Angelo, St. Peter's Basilica, Roman Forum, Colosseum, Domus Aurea), Pompei and Naples. Crossing the continent via the Strait of Messina arriving in Tunisia showing the souks, Arab markets and streets, a Bedouin woman, a mosque, snake charmers, Arab horsemen, the Rhummel Gorge in Algeria, El Kantara town nearby the gorge, the Biskra oasis located at the edge of the Sahara desert and the house of the Earl of Civrieux. The album ends with a portrait of Dauw himself on horseback with the caption "Votre serviteur" and two other photos of Algiers.
Prov. Album given to the cousin of E. Dauw.