BY FELICE BEATO, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

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A GROUP OF FIVE ALBUMEN PRINTS OF KOBE
BY FELICE BEATO, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)
'THE MASONIC HALL', KOBE (THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS REPRODUCED IN HAROLD S. WILLIAMS, TALES OF THE FOREIGN SETTLEMENTS (NEW YORK, 1958), P. 176, WHERE THE CAPTION STATES 'KYO-MACHI, KOBE IN EIGHTEEN SEVENTIES SHOWING THE MASONIC HALL IN CENTRE OF THE PICTURE, WITH ORIENTAL HOTEL ON LEFT, FOLLOWED BY INTERNATIONAL CLUB, LATER KNOWN AS KOBE CLUB, IN LEFT BACKGROUND IS THE SMOKESTACK OF THE BRITISH-OWNED KOBE PAPER MILL, IN THE RIGHT BACKGROUND ARE THE TREES ALONG THE BANKS OF THE IKUTA RIVER, WHERE THE NEW KOBE CITY HALL WAS COMPLETED IN 1957'), 'THE BUND KOBE' (SHOWING THE EUROPEAN RESIDENCES; THE BRITISH LEGATION, FLYING THE UNION JACK IS TOWARDS THE RIGHT OF THE PICTURE); 'VIEW OF THE HARBOUR AND HOTEL, KOBE', 'THE WATERFALL, KOBE' AND (REVERSE) 'ANOTHER VIEW OF THE WATERFALL, KOBE'

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FELICE BEATO WAS HIMSELF A FREEMASON, HAVING BEEN ADMITTED TO THE YOKOHAMA LODGE IN 1867. THIS, THE FIRST ENGLISH LODGE IN JAPAN, WAS LODGE NO. 1092, FOUNDED IN 1866. THE SECOND, NO. 1263, WAS ALSO IN YOKOHAMA, FOUNDED IN 1869. NO., 1344, THE NIPPON LODGE, WAS WARRANTED AT TOKYO IN 1870 AND IN 1872 THE CHARTER WAS ISSUED FOR LODGE NO. 1401 AT KOBE.
A DISTRICT GRAND LODGE WAS FORMED IN 1873, WITH THE OTHERS UNDER ITS JURISDICTION; THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND HAD LODGES IN HIOGO, OSAKA, KOBE (NO. 498, ESTABLISHED IN 1870) AND YOKOHAMA. FELICE BEATO IS THOUGHT TO HAVE TAKEN PHOTOGRAPHS FROM ABOUT 1862 BUT MOST OF HIS EARLY WORK WAS DESTROYED IN A FIRE IN YOKOHAMA IN 1866. ACCORDING TO HIS OWN STATEMENT DURING THE COURSE OF AN ADDRESS TO THE LONDON AND PROVINCIAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY IN FEBRUARY 1876, HE HAD GIVEN UP COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN 1867 IN FAVOUR OF OTHER INTERESTS.

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