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Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(MEXICO--REVOLUTION.) Photograph album documenting the drafting of Mexico's 1917 Constitution. 250 photographs mounted on 24 heavy album leaves, 72 of them approximately 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, and 178 of them 2 3/4 x 2 inches oval. Oblong folio, 10 x 13 1/2 inches, in plain but sturdy cloth string-bound album, minor wear; contents with minimal wear and occasional light soiling. [Querétaro, circa November 1916 to February 1917]
Mexico's Congress approved its current constitution in February 1917, in the midst of the extended Mexican Revolution. The bulk of this album contains large professional photographs documenting every aspect of the convention, all of them with short tidy inked manuscript captions. The full convention is shown in session at the Teatro Iturbide in Querétaro, with leaders on stage in front of a theatrical backdrop. Some show the delegates with arms raised in a silent protest. Street scenes capture the excitement of the population, and some of the delegates are seen enjoying an informal outdoor banquet. Various committees and state delegations sat for formal portraits. Near the end is a shot of the pen used to sign the constitution, with its engraved case.
Mexico did not have a president in early 1917, the Huerta government having been deposed in 1914. Venustiano Carranza was at that time the head of the Constitutionalist Army and the nation's de facto leader; he became president under the new constitution in May 1917. He appears in many of the images as an "ex officio" member of the convention; his distinctive facial hair is difficult to miss.
Almost all of these larger photographs are credited to Mendoza, either signed "Fot. Mendoza" in the negative, or bearing his "Propiedad Asegurada" logo in the negative.
At the rear of the album are 178 smaller oval portraits of convention participants, mounted on 6 album leaves. These are numbered in pencil to match a key (not present), with names of only three of them added.
We find no clue regarding the compiler or original owner of this album. It is apparently unique and was presumably created for an important participant in the convention.
