Transportation in the Cloudlands of Java, 1914-1925

Three Photographic Albums of Aerial Tramways on Coffee, Tea, and Rubber Plantations in the Netherlands East Indies, 1914-1925, showing the engineering work of the Dutch firm of Merrem & La Porte.

Netherlands East Indies: 1914-1925.

Price: $5,000.00


About the item

571 black and white photographs (some colored) mounted on black or green leaves, most titled in white ink: most 6 x 9 or 5 x 8 inches; approx. 250 3 x 5 inches and smaller. 3 vols. Oblong 4to (2), square 8vo (1). Transportation in the Cloudlands of Java, 1914-1925. Clothbound albums. Fine. Provenance: W.G. ten Houte de Lange, engineer (signature and later bookplate dated 1946).

Item #239288

Compendious visual archive of photographs of aerial (cable) tramways for transportation of tea, coffee, gutta percha, firewood, and building materials — as well as the occasional group of workers — on mountainous plantations in the cloudlands of Java, Netherlands East Indies (present-day Indonesia), including Bandoeng, Mt. Salak, Gedeh, Pengalengan, Kali Glidik, and other areas. The captions identify the plantation and record engineering features, such as the span of unsupported cable or the weight of the cargo. In addition to documenting the engineering works of the Dutch firm of Merrem & La Porte in rugged terrain from ca. 1914 to the mid-1920s, the photographs offer a glimpse of these remote lands at the beginning of the modern era.