?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
(CALIFORNIA--CRIME) "San Francisco Police Department Bureau of Identification Inmate/Prisoner ID Mug Shot Album," containing a total of 710 photographs on 40 pages, most with 9 shots per page. Silver prints, each is approximately 3 1/4x2 1/2 inches (8.9x6.4 cm.), sheet size is 11 1/4x9 inches (28.6x22.9 cm.), with a caption and numeric information in the negative; prints are mounted recto/verso; with a handwritten notation on the front flyleaf: "This 'mug shot' book belonded to the Bureau of Identificatin/S.F. Police Dept. Officer F.H. De Pue/ Circa 1908-1910." Large 4to, 3/4 morocco, worn; contents clean. 1908-1910
A unique glimpse into California's criminal history at the turn of the last century. Officer De Pue was a strong proponent of the use of photography in police work by maintaining a visual roster to help identify criminals.
American mug shot albums were introduced in the late 19th-century and were often modeled on the French scientist Alphone Bertillon's taxonomic approach. This 20th-century album introduces a new model where the criminal is sometimes depicted from an angle and generally dressed in prison stripes, with an identifying caption in block letters -- RAPE, MAYHEN [sic] -- telegraphing the crime. Many of the men sport facial hair, especially bushy mustaches.
A number of different ethnicities are represented, including Asian men convicted of murder (which may relate to the major Tong Wars); men with Hispanic surnames, as well as Native- and African-Americans. But, Caucasians dominate the album, including a few women. The range of crimes includes: burglary, robbery, forgery, murder (in the first and second degree), rape, arson and manslaughter.
The appearance of a numeric notation, and use of collage in arranging subjects on the page, serve as a compelling proto-modernist graphic device reflecting the diversity of criminal activity and large number of individuals who spent time "inside."
