[Picture album with extremely rare early miniature photography] Regnib's miniaturen-album

Om te verzamelen 1000 miniatuurbeelden en tafereelen. Haarlem, Binger & Chits, n.d. (ca. 1860-1870), (42) leafs, 39 of which printed with box layout for 24 miniature photos (3 x 2 cm.) recto and the descriptions verso, with 317 pasted photos, original gilt lettered cloth by J. van den Heuvel (Royal bookbinder The Hague), oblong 4to.

First page with one photo cut out, the album else trifle soiled and stained and worn inside and outside. Extremely rare picture album, only two copies in Picarta (both incorrectly dated ca. 1900): in the KB (apparently empty album) and in the Rijksmuseum with 9 complete series and 3 sheets with photos that have not been pasted yet. Our album contains 12 complete series (one not yet pasted) and 3 incomplete series with extensive descriptions in pen on the facing page. Furthermore, 6 complete series (incl. the one series not pasted) have the original letterpress strips with the titles of the individual photos tipped-in. A complete series contains 25 photos, of which the last photo must be pasted in the back of the album according to these inserted strips; this has been done here, meaning the series are actually complete. On the inside of the front cover an advertisement is pasted with an explanation on how the collector should proceed. Regnib is of course the name Binger backwards, a joke by the publisher. Binger presented experimental miniature photography already in the early '1860s, of which our album is a commercial application. On 1 January 1875 the partnership between Binger and Chits was dissolved, the album therefore predates that event. Our album mainly contains portraits, but also city views and reproductions of paintings with diverse subjects. See for extensive information on Charles Binger (1830-1916) and this album : http://journal.depthoffield.eu/vol07/nr13/f01nl/en. Separately added: 8 leafs from another album (5 complete and 3 incomplete series).