Cross-Canada photograph album from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Vancouver, British Columbia, with photos of Quebec, Ontario, Michigan, and of the Blackfoot runner Deerfoot in Calgary Wallis, Arthur Betram Ridley

A remarkable photograph album documenting an 1891 Canadian and Michigan journey, by Arthur Betram Ridley Wallis (1864-1931). Three weeks after graduating from Oxford with a Master of Fine Arts degree, Wallis, who often used the initials A.B.R., left Liverpool on August 4th, 1891, on the SS Caspian, bound for St. John s Newfoundland. On the title page of the album, he described his trip as "a short journey through Canada and into Michigan U.S., undertaken by A.B.R. Wallis in 1891 with no object of any kind whatever". The first eight leaves, out of twenty-six, of the album are annotated with his wry sense of humour. Wallis arrived in St. John s on August 12th, "containing among other curiosities all that is left of ABRW after 8 days on the ocean". The first two photographs are of the harbour and town of St. John s, one by the photographer Simeon H. Parsons. From St. John s, Wallis travelled to Halifax, Niagara Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, the Michigan town of Escabana, Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Calgary (represented by a photo of the celebrated Blackfoot runner Deerfoot), the Canadian Rockies, Vancouver, back to the Port Arthur region, Montreal, and then Quebec City and vicinity. The identified photographers include Simeon H. Parsons (St. John s), James Ross (Halifax), John Franklin Cooke (Port Arthur), Bernard "Brainard" Freeman Childs (Sault Ste. Marie), Boorne & May (Canadian Rockies), Bailey Bros, Bailey & Neelands, and William McFarlane Notman (Vancouver), John George Parks (Montreal), and Louis-Prudent Vallée (Quebec). While there are five vernacular photographs out of 51 total, the large majority are by professional photographers that he collected enroute. There are also three engravings of Ottawa, Portage La Prairie, and Winnipeg, clipped from the 1891 Canadian Pacific magazine. One group portrait of four men that has a differently dressed man in a grey suit, is tentatively identified as Wallis, based on a glancing resemblance to a man in side profile in the Great Lakes region. Many of the photographs are large format. Some interesting images include whaleback barges on the Great Lakes, and firefighting and tobogganing in Montreal. After his trip, Wallis became a barrister in London. The Victoria & Albert Museum contains 79 brass rubbings by Wallis. Album half-bound, 9 1/2 x 12 1/4 inches (24 x 31 cm), spine restored, one leaf detached, a few others partially detached, five pages with missing photographs. Browning and tears to some photographs, dampstaining to leaves. Booklabel from Partridge & Cooper, 192, Fleet Street, on inside cover. Good plus overall. A detailed summary of the photographs, annotations, and photographers will be included.