Moore-Bennett, Helen Fletcher (NéE Latimer) (1891 ? Ca. 1960S); Moore-Bennett, Arthur John (1877-1950). Historically Significant Scrapbook With Ca. 170 Original Gelatin Silver Photos And Real Photo Postcards, Various Manuscript And Printed Ephemera (Business Or Calling Cards, Store And Suppliers' Receipts, Hotel Invoices, Telegrams, Autograph Letters Signed, Original Envelopes, Telegrams And Newspaper Clippings), Taken And Collected During A Ten-Year-Long Cruise On Yacht "Medea" From Shanghai To Hong Kong, Singapore, Around The Malay Peninsula And Thence To Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Goa, Aden, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Cyprus, &C. Ca. 1931-1940 (The Period Of The Voyage), But Some Photos And Documents Cover The Period From 1913 To 1965. MOORE-BENNETT, Helen Fletcher (NéE Latimer) (1891 ? Ca. 1960S); MOORE-BENNETT, Arthur John (1877-1950) ASIA,PHOTOGRAPHY,SOUTH-EAST Asia

Folio album (ca. 31x25 cm or ca. 12 ¼ x 9 ¾ in). 55 card stock leaves (most with loosely inserted tissue guards). With ca. 170 mounted and loosely inserted original gelatin silver photographs and real photo postcards; the size of the photos from ca. 23x29 cm (9 x 11 ¼ in) to ca. 2x3 cm (1 x 1 ¼ in); most images are from ca. 7x11,5 cm (2 ¾ x 4 ½ in) to ca. 6,5x9 cm (2 ½ x 3 ½ in). Over twenty photos with period ink or pencil captions on the mounts or versos; ca. eighteen real photo postcards with captions in negative or photographers' stamps in the image. With twenty-five printed postcards, showing Goa and Singapore. With over 230 pieces of various printed and hand-written ephemera, mounted and loosely inserted. With five loosely inserted watercolours, from ca. 17,5x24 cm (6 ¾ x 9 ½ in) to ca. 21x31 cm (8 ¼ x 12 ¼ in). Period brown full cloth album; front board with a mounted paper label with the period manuscript note: "Mrs. M.B. scrapbook, recovered by J. [Goepals?], political officer, Aden, from Sultan [Ahwa?], Apl. 13d 1940 by [??] force. Aden levy, R.A.F." Album rubbed on extremities, loosened on the hinges and with a partial split after leaf [5], several photos previously cut out from the leaves, several ephemera with minor tears or chipping; overall a very good album. Historically significant, extensive collection of original photos, manuscripts and a wide range of printed ephemera, illustrating a ten-year-long voyage (1931-1940) of the Chinese-built yacht "Medea" around South-East Asia, the Malay Peninsula, Sri Lanka, India, the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea. The compiler was a former Canadian nurse, Helen Fletcher Latimer, who married Arthur Moore-Bennett, a British businessman active in China and Mongolia since the early 1900s and a managing director of the Anglo-Chinese Engineers' Association in the 1910s. "Medea" was built in Swatow (Shantou, Guangdong, China) and was registered with the Royal Shanghai Yacht Club. The voyage started in the summer of 1931, when "Medea" with the couple on board, sailed to Hong Kong, Macao and Canton (Guangzhou), where they stayed for half a year, experiencing three typhoons. For two years, the yacht was stationed in Singapore, cruising along the east and west coasts of the Malay Peninsula. In November 1933, they sailed to Bangka Island and returned along the east coast of Sumatra, went to Colombo (Sri Lanka) and then anchored off Goa. In the autumn of 1934, "Medea" continued its voyage to Aden, the Red Sea, Port Sudan, Hurghada, the Suez Canal and Cyprus. Explaining the reasons for going on an independent sea voyage, Moore-Bennett wrote: "when most of my kind retire to spend the balance of their lives buying dog licenses, paying income-tax and otherwise aiding the country, I built "Medea" and started out anew to see other things, unhampered by a million laws, regulations, conventions and other chains invented by the West to curb all individuality" (Moore-Bennett, A.J. With the "Medea" in Malaya// The Straits Times. 8 October 1933, p. 9; see more ). Apart from this, the Singapore online database "Newspaper SG" finds at least five Moore-Bennett's articles published in the local newspapers during "Medea's" cruise: Praise from a Visitor// The Straits Budget, 5 May 1932, p. 5; The Cruise of the "Medea"// The Straits Times, 5 November 1933, p. 8; Penang's Beauty Hacked and Cut// Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, 27 November 1933, p. 1; The Cruise of the "Medea:" West Coast Cruise Ends// The Straits Times, December 10, 1933, p. 8; "My yacht is my home"// The Straits Times, 19 January 1934, p. 3. Helen Moore-Bennett herself published a vivid account of the voyage to Hong Kong, Singapore, British Malaya and Sumatra in the "Quarterly Magazine, published by and for the Alumnae Association of the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in the City of New York (Life of a 45' Ketch//Quarterly Magazine? Vol. 34, October 1939, No. 4, pp. 28-31; see more ). The album cont