Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Hotel Gray et d'Albion et Galeries Fleuries [WITH 35 ORIGINAL SILVER GELATIN PRINTS]

Rey (Photographs by)

[Cannes]: NP, [1924-1927]. Original document. Softcover. Oblong quarto. [35] leaves. Uncut. Original string bound photo-album, with gold lettering to front cover.

Unique photo-album documenting the construction and completion of the famous Galeries Fleuries, in Cannes in 1923-24, and consisting of luxury shops, tearooms, preceded by colonnades and arcades surrounding a luxuriant floral garden and a miniature golf. Nice architect Charles Dalmas* and his son Marcel traced its plans.

The album opens with two original photographs: The first one is a portrait of French architect Charles Dalmas, next to a photograph of an unidentified man (presumably the director of the Hotel Gray et d'Albion). Both pictures have an oval shape, and measure 5 1/2 x 4". The next eleven leaves each contain each a silver gelatin print depicting the various construction stages. Each photograph measures 4 3/4 x 6 3/4". The following eighteen leaves each contain an original photograph showing various areas of the Galeries Fleuries after their completion (people strolling in the floral garden, tearooms with people enjoying themselves at the terrace, people playing at the miniature golf, facades of a few luxury shops, etc..). Two of the pictures are tinted. Each photograph measures 4 3/4 x 6 3/4". The next leaf features a 4 3/4 x 6 3/4" photograph of Charles Dalmas accompanied with his son Marcel, posing under one of the arcades. The following three leaves each contain a loose original silver gelatin print depicting the Galeries Fleuries heavily covered with snow, after the severe and unusual snow storm of December 18, 1927 (size: 7 x 9 1/4", image: 4 1/8 x 6 1/8").

All the photographs (except the last three which are loose) are pasted to a decorative heavy cardstock. Pasted on inside of back cover is a vintage newspaper article covering the inauguration of the Galeries Fleuries (February 9, 1924).

Moderate creasing and sporadic closed tears along edges of album. Back cover creased. Newspaper article age-toned.
Upper corner of the first loose photograph slightly chipped (not affecting image). Album in overall good, interior in very good, original photographs in near fine to fine condition. g to vg. Item #39837

* Architect Charles Dalmas (1863-1938): After completing his studies in Paris at the Academie des Beaux Arts, Charles Dalmas returned to Nice where he built up his business steadily, ultimately completing around 100 houses, 20 or so hotels and other projects. He built some of Nice’s most beautiful apartment buildings, such as the Hôtel Hermitage (Avenue Bieckert), the Winter Palace and the Grand Palace. The Hôtel Atlantic (now the Boscol Exedra Hôtel, 12 Boulevard Victor-Hugo) and the Hôtel Le Royal (23 Promenade des Anglais) are just two of his fine hotel commissions. The Hôtel Plaza (Rue du Verdun), where he re-designed the facade, reflects the period fashion for elaborate stucco decorations. Dalmas, more than any other, can be said to be the man behind much of the characteristic Belle Époque style present in Nice and the French Riviera. After WWI, Charles Dalmas built two of the finest examples of Art Deco, with his delightful pavillon of the Alpes-Maritimes for the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts, and the Palais de la Méditerranée, in Nice (1929).

Price: $1,250.00