VIEWS OF DELHI, 1860s [SET OF 10]

Albumen print on paper

An attractive collection of classical architectural photos of Delhi taken by Samuel Bourne. Sharp and detailed, the images show some famous examples of the ancient Mughal architecture in Delhi.

The average size of each photograph is 6.6 x 9.6 inches

The Palace (Red Fort) at Lahore Gate, New Delhi
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
1866
View of the Lahori Gate in the Red Fort, with its ramparts, moat, and chattris or decorative domed pavilions. The gate's arched opening is topped with the carving of another arch. Visible in the foreground is a native man looking down into the dry moat, while a few more people can be seen on the bridge on the center-left area of the image. (The J. Paul Getty Museum)

Chandni -chouk, principle Street in Delhi
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
1860s
This photograph shows Chandni Chowk, the principal street of Shahjahanabad, the seventh city of the seven historical cities of Delhi. The sides of the road are lined with shops and artisans selling their wares. The road was built in 1650 by Jahanara Begum, the daughter of the emperor Shah Jahan. It led from the Red Fort, Shah Jahan’s fortified palace, and was 40 yards wide and 1,520 yards long. Originally, a canal ran the entire length of the road and into the Fort, providing water for drinking and irrigation. The canal fell into disuse and was covered over by the British between 1840 and the 1860s. This photograph shows the raised cement bed that runs through the centre of the road where the canal used to be. (V & A Museum)

Chausath Khamba
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
Chausath Khamba tomb, which is located Nizamuddin district of Sufi Muslim tombs and shrines in New Delhi, India. This historic landmark was originally erected during the 17th century as a mausoleum for Mirza Aziz Koka. The edifice is comprised of Mughal architecture.

Humayun's Tomb
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print

General View of Delhi from Fort
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
1865
Photograph of the courtyard of the Jami Masjid, Delhi, taken by Samuel Bourne in the 1860s. The Jami Masjid was the principal mosque of Shah Jahan's new capital city Shahjahanabad. The largest mosque in India, it was the last great architectural venture of Emperor Shah Jahan (r.1628-58), the most prolific builder of the Mughal dynasty. It took six years to build and functioned as a congregational mosque which could hold 250,000 people. Approached via broad flights of steps its three gateways lead into a huge courtyard with a central tank for ritual ablutions. The mosque is built of red sandstone with white marble. The main building is topped by three onion-shaped domes of white marble striated with thin strips of black marble and is flanked by two minarets, 130 ft high. (British Library Board)

Motee Musjid, Delhi
Samuel Borne
Albumen print
1865
View along the central aisle of the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) at Agra, showing a vista of cusped arches, taken by Samuel Bourne in the 1860s. The Moti Masjid was built by Emperor Shah Jahan (r.1627-1658) at the highest point in the Agra Fort complex. It was completed in 1655, taking seven years to build. The mosque sits on a platform and consists of a large courtyard surrounded by continuous arcades and a prayer hall. The prayer hall has three aisles, each with seven bays and is surmounted by three elegant marble domes with gilded spires. The prayer chamber has coloured strips set into the floor to denote separate prayer spaces. The central courtyard contains a square marble tank and a sundial in the shape of an octagonal marble pillar. The impact of the Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque is to be accounted for by “its proportion, building materials and …cohesive harmony which is the hallmark of the best Mughal architecture”. The north and south side have gateways crowned by marble cupolas. (British Library Board)

Tomb of Tughlaq
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
1866.br.Photograph of ruins of a building in the foreground. The tomb is in the centre. It has a large wall surrounding it, and a domed tower supported by scaffolding.

Tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
1866
Nizamuddin Dargah is the dargah (mausoleum) of famous Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi.

Tomb of Safdurjung
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
circa 1860

Jama Masjid
Samuel Bourne
Albumen print
The Masjid-i Jahan-Numa (World-reflecting Mosque), commonly known as the Jama Masjid of Delhi, is one of the largest mosques in India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan between 1644 and 1656 at a cost of 1 million rupees and was inaugurated by an imam from Bukhara, present-day Uzbekistan. The mosque was completed in 1656 AD with three great gates, four towers and two 40 m high minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and white marble. The courtyard can accommodate more than 25,000 persons. There are three domes on the terrace which are surrounded by the two minarets. On the floor, a total of 899 black borders are marked for worshippers. The architectural plan of Badshahi Masjid, built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb at Lahore, Pakistan, is similar to the Jama Masjid, Delhi. (Wikipedia)

Samuel Bourne (1834 - 1912) was a British photographer known for his prolific seven years' work in India, from 1863 to 1870. Together with Charles Shepherd, he set up Bourne & Shepherd first in Shimla in 1863 and later in Kolkata (Calcutta); the company closed in June 2016.

In 1859, he displayed photographs at the Nottingham Photographic Society's annual exhibition. The following year, his photographs were also shown in London, at the London International Exhibition of 1862. This reception he received motivated him to give up his position at the bank, and set sail for India to work as a professional photographer; arriving in Calcutta early in 1863. (Wikipedia)
.br.Bourne was joined in 1864 by Charles Shepherd, to form ‘Bourne & Shepherd’, which became the premier photographic studio in India, and until it closed in June 2016 was perhaps the world’s oldest photographic business.

Bourne spent six extremely productive years in India, and by the time he returned to England in January 1871, he had made approximately 2,200 fine images of the landscape and architecture of India and the Himalayas. Working primarily with a 10 x 12 inch plate camera, and using the complicated and laborious Wet Plate Collodion process, the impressive body of work he produced was always of superb technical quality and often of artistic brilliance.

His ability to create superb photographs whilst travelling in the remotest areas of the Himalayas and working under the most exacting physical conditions places him firmly amongst the very finest of nineteenth-century travel photographers.

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