PHOTOGRAPHS OF KOREA (et alii); sixteen black and white photographs labelled in ink in English script Port Hamilton--Corea. Photographs taken by Commander Davis/H.M.S. Daring and Commander Grenfell/H.M.S. Pegasus and forty-one black and white photographs of ships and European locales, [n.d.] (late 19th century); mounted on gilt-edged vellum leaves in a leather-bound album, pages foxed and some photographs slightly discolored

Details

PHOTOGRAPHS OF KOREA (et alii); sixteen black and white photographs labelled in ink in English script Port Hamilton--Corea. Photographs taken by Commander Davis/H.M.S. Daring and Commander Grenfell/H.M.S. Pegasus and forty-one black and white photographs of ships and European locales, [n.d.] (late 19th century); mounted on gilt-edged vellum leaves in a leather-bound album, pages foxed and some photographs slightly discolored

Contents: Fifteen photographs each labelled below in the same hand: Harbour (called the Camber)...Observatory Island...Corean village on Sodo Island, Camp of Royal Marines...Observatory Island, Corean House and Coreans, Corean Group with Comm.r Davis...and Grenfell, North end of Sodo Island...north end of Sunhodo Island, Continuation (from last photograph)..., Continuation...and H.M.S. Agamemnon--Corean Village..., South-end of Sunhodo Island...and Observatory Island, Observatory Island...and Triangle Peak..., Observatory Island..., Entrance to Harbour...and boom laid down when Islands first-occupied to prevent entrance of enemy's ships., Corean Chief (called the Major), Corean Woman (called Nam), Coreans, Corean Boat; one-page two-column printed article, A Sketch of Port Hamilton in 1886 from The Graphic, dated Feb. 12, 1887, laid down; 3pp. cut-out and labelled printed illustrations from The Graphic, Feb. 12, 1887 and April 16, 1887 [views similar to the photographs and events relating to the evacuation of Port Hamilton], laid down; ½p. photograph labelled Huts of Marine Detachment, Observatory Island, Port Hamilton; [accompanying photographs of other places and of ships]: 1 photograph of H. M. Troopship Himalaya; 12 photographs of the Harbour, Valletta, Malta; 4 photographs of the English coast near Torquay; 12 photographs of the Azores; 4 photographs of steamers; 1 photograph of Bennachie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; 2 photographs of France; 5 photographs of the Channel Islands

Lot Essay

On April 15, 1885 three British warships occupied Komundo, the harbor of three islands eighteen miles off the coast of southern Korea collectively named Port Hamilton by a surveyor in 1845. Although the British had no particular interest in Korea, the territory suited the objective of posing a threat to the Asian provinces of Russia and protecting British naval and commercial traffic in north China. This seizure of Korean land was in violation of international law and treaties between Korea and Britain (intended to ward off Russia), but was of no apparent concern to the Gladstone government. The navy was now within a thousand miles of Vladivostok. As tensions between Russia and Britain over Afghanistan had escalated to a point of imminent war, the British justified the occupation of Port Hamilton on the grounds of national security.