DETAILS: Original Samoan cabinet card photograph by Alfred James Tattersall of Apia, Western Samoa. Circa 1890. Double sided. Measures 12" X 10" inches. Please see item images for further details.



Alfred James Tattersall (1866–1951) was a New Zealand photographer who lived in Samoa for most of his life and contributed a significant collection of images of the Pacific Island country and its peoples during the colonial era. He was born in Auckland in 1866 and moved to Samoa in 1886 to work as an assistant in the studio of John Davis.  This was the era of colonial photography in the South Pacific when the tropical landscapes and indigenous people provided 'continual fascination' for foreign photographers. When Davis died in 1893 Tattersall took over his studio.He went on to photograph events in Samoa including the volatile era when Britain, Germany and the United States were vying for control of the Samoa Islands. Many of his photographs are significant in the history of Samoa and covered eras such as German Samoa (1900 - 1914) followed by the country's administration under New Zealand which saw the rise of the pro-independence Mau movement.  

Oxxbridge Galleries

Oxxbridge Galleries was founded in 1987 and specializes in vintage paper items with a large selection of historical and 19th Century tintypes, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, cabinet cards as well as other types of early photography. We invite everyone to visit our ebay store to view our entire inventory.