(INDIA). [DAGG, Sidney Herbert. ~ Photographs of the Delhi Durbar, 1903. All stamped on verso ‘S.H. Dagg, photographer, Mussoorie and Allahabad’, c. 1903].
18 silver gelatin prints on printing-out paper (207 × 290 mm), unmounted. Some creasing, some corners turned and creased, occasionally with minimal loss. Early pencil captions to verso.
A series of eighteen superb photographs of processions of Indian princes and soldiers at the Delhi Durbar. The 1903 Durbar was held to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as Emperor and Empress of India --- the King and Queen did not attend but were represented by the Duke of Connaught and the Viceroy Lord Curzon (both appearing in these photographs). Many of the Indian princes rode on elephants (depicted in six of the photographs here) and were dressed in their finest costumes and jewels. Three of the prints depict the Durbar amphitheatre and Viceroy’s pavilion forming a panorama of connected images. The Durbar was also the occasion for the opening of the Delhi exhibition, the biggest display of Indian arts and crafts hitherto assembled, and the exhibition building is the subject of two of the prints here.
Photographer Sidney Herbert Dagg (1862-1930) moved to India in 1891 and worked as an assistant to G.W.Lawrie (G. W. Lawrie & Co) before establishing his own firm, with offices at Mussoorie and Allahabad.