China - Operations of the SMS Vaterland Otter on the Yangtze. 6 private albums with 424 mounted original photographs. Vintages. Silver gelatin and albumen prints, some with imprinted numbers. 1910/11. 8 x 6 cm to 20 x 15 cm, albums 29 x 36.5 cm. Contemporary cardboard with cord binding in modern cardboard box (cover somewhat bumped and stained). Early and exceptionally comprehensive photographic documentation from the Yangtze river basin in central China. Several pictures show the crew of the imperial river gunboat SMS Vaterland Otter with the year 1910. The ship was built in 1909 for the German Yangtze patrol, subordinated to the East Asian Cruiser Squadron and in service from 1910-14. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the crew escorted fleeing foreigners to safe areas. - The photographs show the magnificent river landscape, towns and cities, Chinese folk and street scenes, several buildings presumably destroyed by the revolution, places of worship, the crew on board and on shore leave, European civilians, some photos also of the ship's passage through the Suez Canal to Shanghai. - Gelatin prints partly somewhat silvered, albumen brownish discolored to faded, overall in very good condition. VAT: #