4093 - Sommer, Giorgio

Sommer, Giorgio Pompeii Photographed. Early 1860s. 26 albumen prints, individually mounted on cards with captions. Each approx. 17 x 23.7 cm or reverse (cards 34 x 46.5 cm). Printed captions beneath the photographs; accompanied by 4 pp. of printed title, table of contents, and descriptive text, with the imprint “London: William Mackenzie, Paternoster Row. Glasgow and Edinburgh.” Presented loose, as issued, in the original green cloth portfolio with blind and gilt stamping, titled “POMPEII PHOTOGRAPHED” (overall size 48 x 35.5 x 2 cm). A rare English-language portfolio from Sommer’s early survey of the Vesuvian sites. The sequence takes the viewer through Pompeii’s streets, temples, and public spaces, extending to frescoes, reliefs, and plaster casts—and thus from monumental architecture to evidence of Roman daily life and the eruption of Vesuvius. Its English descriptive text transformed the photographs into a portable archaeological guide for the Victorian Grand Tour market. The portfolio comprises 24 views of Pompeii and 2 of Herculaneum. Although the contents leaf lists 24 subjects, the present 26-print collation includes additional and variant views. – Card mounts with light handling creases, marginal soiling, and scattered foxing and spotting; a few are more noticeably browned or foxed, one with concentrated brown spotting, and another with a diagonal crease at the upper corner. Albumen prints are generally clean and well preserved. The original cloth portfolio is heavily worn, with rubbed boards, frayed and split cloth along the joints, edges, and corners, and substantial losses and lifting of the inner lining. The title and text leaves show handling creases and light age-toning.