Floride

Floride — marelibri

Annotated Vernacular Photograph Album with Rare Images Showing the Aftermath of the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901

1901réf. 2885Various locations in Florida 1901. About very good. 16 leaves illustrated with thirty-two original vernacular photographs all 3.5 x 3.5 inches most with manuscript captions in ink above the images. Oblong octavo. Contemporary gray paper wrappers white titles on front cover. Spine mostly split a few shallow chips to edges. Internally clean. A small but important vernacular photograph album containing rare views of the devastation wrought by the Great Fire of 1901 in Jacksonville Florida which took place on May 3 1901. The most destructive event in the history of Jacksonville the Great Fire swept through 146 city blocks destroying over 2000 buildings killing seven people and leaving almost 10000 residents without homes. It is considered the third-largest urban fire in United States history after the Great Chicago Fire and the 1906 San Francisco conflagration. The photographs in the present album were taken by an unidentified passenger aboard the Clyde Line steamer Comanche. Eight of the images capture the scene in devastated Jacksonville including a shot of the ruins of the Windsor and St. James hotels shots from atop the "Jacksonville Government Building" a group picture of the city guard "ruins of Jacksonville Court House" "An unknown ruin" a crowded scene at the Jacksonville wharf and a distant shot showing "Ruins of Jacksonville taken from Steamer Comanche May 12." All of the photographs of Jacksonville are dated in manuscript on May 12 1901 nine days after the Great Fire. In addition to the Jacksonville pictures other identified locations along the photographer's voyage include the Hillsborough River near Tampa the Tampa Court House scenes around the Tampa Bay Hotel family pictures in Florida the Comanche and its crew Fort Sumter and four views around Charleston. One particularly notable photograph shows six boys standing in shallow water holding fishing nets likely near Tampa. The image is captioned "A group of young crabbers representing three nationalities American Italian and Negro May 10 1901. unknown