Victor Segalen’s album of photos made in China during his period aboard the gunboat Doudart de Lagree, 1909-1910

An amazing archive coming up for auction on October 12 – Victor Segalen (1878-1919)’s photo album. Segalen was a French marine doctor, explorer, archaeologist and writer, who traveled and lived in Polynesia and China. This album pf photographs covers his introduction to the Chinese language and civilization (courses with Arnold Vissiere in Oriental Languages and edouard Chavannes at the College de France in 1908); his1909 departure for China; his time in Chongqing where he joined the gunboat Doudart de Lagree; his 1910 move to Peking, where he was joined by his wife and son in 1911; his experiences on a humanitarian and medical mission to Shanhaiguan to combat the plague raging in the region; his appointment as second-class medical major at Tianjin Imperial Medical College in 1912; the publication of his work Steles in 1912; his treatment of Yuan Shikai in 1914; and a second archaeological expedition, known as the Segalen-Voisins-Lartigue mission. Quite an amazing collection – auction details here