Vintage Photographs of the Bombing of SHANGHAI

(Sino-Japanese War).  AH FONG:

The Sino-Japanese Hostilities 1937. Shanghai. 

Photo by Ah Fong, 819 Nanking Road, Shanghai, [1937].

Album of 110 original gelatin silver prints, two in a panoramic format (2 x 7-1/2 inches, 4.7 x 19 cm), the remainder 2-1/4 x 3-1/2 inches (5.5 x 8.3 cm), a few titled in the negative, five images (including one panorama) toned red to represent Chapei district burning at night, all prints numbered on mounts according to a printed index with captions tipped in at front.

Oblong 8vo, [47] pp. with tissue guards between facing images; black paper boards with black cord tie (corners a litlte rubbed), the upper cover stamped in silver illustrating a city skyline ravaged by Japanese aircraft dropping bombs and tanks crashing into buildings, with a warship seen in the far background.

Following the Mukden (or Manchurian) Incident in September 1931 when the Japanese invaded the north-eastern part of China, a boycott was declared on all Japanese products.  The Japanese responded with the landing of 70,000 troops in Shanghai in January 1932.  Following years of skirmishes and localized incidents, full-scale war broke out in August 1937.  By October the Japanese claimed major victories after heavy fighting, their army being better equipped, supported by naval and aerial bombardment.
This detailed record includes evocative images of the Royal Navy, United States, Russian, Japanese and Italian warships; General Chiang Kai-shek and Yeng Jei Ih; refugees fleeing from the ruins of Pei Sing Tsin village; victims and destruction caused by the Cathay Hotel bombing; bomb victims receiving first aid; and the bombing of the Tsun Tsin Training Camp.  The commercial photographer Ah Fong had studios in Shanghai and Weihai. Assembled albums are believed to be quite rare.