RARE ORIGINAL EXEMPLAR FROM A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS by CARLETON WATKINS OF OLD CALIFORNIAN MISSIONS. WATKINS Carleton Eugene, American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was one of his favourites. [Mission, San Carlos del Carmelo], near Monterey in California, circa 1883. Original albumen silver photograph. Undated but circa 1883 see Getty, 94. Laid down to card album leaf. Size: photograph – approx. 12in x 8¼in / mount – slightly larger. Light age-toning and minor fading. Minor waviness to mount. A pleasing example on the whole. Please ask if you require a more detailed condition report, and view gallery images closely. A rare original albumen photograph by Carleton Watkins which shows the m ission of San Carlos del Carmelo, near Monterey, in California, taken from the west with a glimpse of Carmel Bay on the right side. It is from a series of images by Watkins that documented old mission buildings in California. Original albumen exemplars from the mission series by Watkins are rare (his Yosemite photographs are better known, though equally elusive). The Getty archive holds an example of this exact photograph, at the same size 12in x 8¼in, but printed with its centre further to the left. Our example shows more of the landscape on the right hand side of the mission building, and less of the ruins on the left. But both are from the same negative, and Watkins presumably also produced this print in its full’mammoth’ form i. Circa 18in x 12in with the entirety of its landscape displayed. This exemplar was printed in around 1883 (as per Getty), presumably by Taber. The negative itself was made by Watkins sometime between the mid 1860s and early 1880s.