Frontal and profile views of a Laplander, anthropological study by expedition of Prince Roland Bonaparte, 1884 (printed ca. 1886). Collotype images, each 4.5 x 6 inches (11x15 cm), printed on sheet 12 x 17 inches (30x43 cm) with plate number, sitter name and attributions "Collection du Prince R. Bonaparte" / "Phototypie G. Roche". Price: $125. ( Inventory# gd91.74 )
In 1884 the noted anthropologist Roland Bonaparte made an ethnographic expedition to Lapland, an artic region in northern Europe, with the aim of documenting the racial characteristics of the area's inhabitants (the Laplanders or Sami people) whose origins were a puzzle to anthropology. Photographs were taken of the inhabitants, each captured in paired frontal/side views similar to police mug shots. A stick with numbered card identifying the sitter is visible in each image. The negatives were used to produce a portfolio of collotype plates published in France ca. 1886 which is uncommon. Offered is a collotype plate from this set.
Bonaparte's expedition was described in an 1886 monograph, "Le Prince Roland Bonaparte in Laponie" (French language). On request a photocopy of this monograph will included with the plate at no charge. (The full work can also be read online here.) R. Bonaparte's ethnographic photographs are also discussed in the book Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul 1850-2000 by R. Sobieszek.
CONDITION: Due to scanner size limit only part of plate is shown below. Some foxing, stains, or small edge tears may be present on the collotype sheet outside image area.
