Sunny Memories Killarney 1867 15 Albumen Photos

📸 Sunny Memories of Ireland’s Scenic Beauties: Killarney by Frederick H. Mares (1867, Browne & Nolan, Dublin) — a Victorian photograph album containing 15 original tipped-in albumen prints of the Killarney lakes and surrounding landscape, published during the earliest years of outdoor photography in Ireland.

QUICK FACTS

• Photographer: Frederick Holland Mares (fl. 1860s–1870s), studio at 79 Grafton Street, Dublin
• Publisher: Browne & Nolan, Dublin
• Year: 1867 (first edition)
• Format: Quarto, green cloth with elaborate gilt-stamped cover (cherubs, harp, floral wreath), gilt page edges
• Pages: Not paginated | ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Photographs: 15 original tipped-in albumen prints (11 × 11 cm) — rarer than the standard 12-print edition
• Condition: full report below

THE STORY

Frederick Holland Mares was a Dublin-based photographer active from the 1860s through the 1870s, with his studio at 79 Grafton Street (later relocating to 118 Grafton Street, opposite Trinity College, as “The Grafton Studio”). He is known for his studio portraits and scenic landscape photographs of Ireland, including “Photographs of Dublin” (1867, A. Duthie) and a companion volume in this series covering Wicklow. His work is held by the National Library of Ireland, the Minnesota Historical Society, and is indexed in HathiTrust and the Photography Studies Collection at the Cengage Gale archives.

Published in 1867, during the early boom of Victorian tourism to Ireland’s west coast, this album captures the Killarney lakes at a pivotal moment — just two years after the completion of the Killarney railway line (1865) made the region accessible to mass tourism for the first time. The sepia albumen prints show the landscape largely unspoiled, with horse-drawn carriages on dirt roads and pre-development views of Ross Castle, Muckross Abbey, and the mountain passes.

THIS EDITION

This copy contains 15 tipped-in albumen photographs — three more than the standard 12-print edition cataloged by Healy Rare Books and the National Library of Ireland. The additional prints likely represent a deluxe or extended printing. The photographs are original albumen prints pasted directly to the pages, each accompanied by a facing page of descriptive text set within ornate Victorian decorative borders. The chromolithograph title page features gilt lettering within a wreath of shamrocks and floral motifs.

The full suite of photographs captures: General View of the Lakes, Ross Castle, Lower Lake from Innisfallen, O’Sullivan’s Cascade, Glena Bay, Brickeen Bridge, The Middle (Torc) Lake, Muckross Abbey, Torc Cascade, Landing Place at Dinis Island, The Old Weir Bridge, Eagle’s Nest Mountain, The Upper Lake, The Black Valley, and The Gap of Dunloe. Each image is accompanied by a facing page of descriptive letterpress set within ornate Victorian decorative borders, providing historical and scenic context for each location.

COVER ART & BINDING

The binding is deep green cloth with elaborate gold-stamped decoration: a central circular wreath enclosing the title “Sunny Memories,” surmounted by two cherubs flanking an Irish harp beneath a radiant sunburst. The word “Killarney” appears in large gilt capitals below. All page edges are gilt. The gold embossing remains largely intact after nearly 160 years, though the cloth shows expected wear — scuffing to the front board, fraying at corners and spine ends, and some spotting to the cloth.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Among the earliest photographic albums of Killarney, predating the mass-produced souvenir albums that would flood the market by the 1880s
• The 15-print edition is demonstrably rarer than the standard 12-print version — Healy Rare Books (Dublin) catalogs the 12-print edition at €650; this copy’s additional three photographs represent a significant bibliographic variant
• Mares’ work is held by the National Library of Ireland and referenced in Sarah Rouse’s “Into The Light: An Illustrated Guide to the Photographic Collections in the National Library of Ireland” (1998, pp. 96–97)
• The album captures pre-development Killarney — views that would be transformed by tourism infrastructure within two decades of publication

FREQUENTLY ASKED

How many photographs does this copy contain? 15 original tipped-in albumen prints — three more than the standard 12-print edition, making this a rarer variant.

What condition is it in? Good or better for a 158-year-old book — intact binding with weakened hinges, no loose or torn pages, some foxing and spotting, gilt edges worn but present, cover cloth shows wear at corners and spine. Full condition report below.

Is this a first edition? Yes. Published by Browne & Nolan, Dublin, 1867. The chromolithograph title page and gilt cloth binding are consistent with the first printing.

FOR COLLECTORS

This is not a common Victorian tourist album — the 15-print variant is a genuine bibliographic rarity, and the photographs themselves are primary-source documents of pre-development Killarney by one of Dublin’s notable mid-Victorian photographers. The gilt-stamped green cloth binding with its harp-and-cherub motif makes it a handsome display piece as well.

“Sunny Memories of Ireland’s Scenic Beauties Killarney”, published by F.H. Mares, dated 1867. 9″ tall, green cloth wrapped decorated boards, text block gilt all side, title page decoration embellished with gold lettering, photographs are actual photographic paper pasted to pages, not paginated.

This is a “good” or better antique book with intact binding but weakened hinges. No loose or torn or folded pages. Some light foxing and spotting in places. I am not entirely sure, but the front free end paper looks to be adhered to the front paste down because the book opens immediately to the title page and what appears to be the paste down is of the same paper type as the other pages, yet looking at the back of the book, free end paper and the paste down are different color. The pages are lightly waved due to the photos being of a glossy paper and having been pasted to each page. The front cover cloth is a little lifted in some places and there is some spotting to the cloth (see accompanying images). The board corners are worn and show the underlying board.

Overall, while not perfect, it is complete, the photos are rather stunning and it is a pleasing book.

Of note: This printing has 15 photographs (see image of the table of contents), similar books typically have just 12.

The images contained with accompanying descriptions on each following page:
>> General View of the Lakes
>> Ross Castle
>> Lower Lake from Innisfallen
>> O’Sullivan’s Cascade
>> Glena Bay
>> Brickeen Bridge
>> The Middle, or Torc Lake
>> Muckross Abbey
>> Torc Cascade
>> Landing Place at Dinis Island
>> The Old Weir Bridge
>> Eagle’s Nest Mountain
>> The Upper Lake
>> The Black Valley
>> The Gap of Dunloe

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