Rare stereoview of the Landing Place, Canton, circa 1858/59, by Pierre Joseph Rossier and published by Negretti & Zambra
 
No. 6 Canton. The Landing Place, taken from the house of the commissariat.
 
The views in this series are among the very first photographs of China. The London firm of Negretti & Zambra specialized in the manufacture and sale of photographic equipment. Alongside their manufacturing concerns, Negretti and Zambra was a large retailer of stereoscopic views and operated their own photographic studio, issuing a significant number of collections from the early 1850s onwards. During that period, they took on the heavy expense, and uncertainty, of sending the Swiss photographer Pierre-Joseph Rossier to China to photograph the Second Opium War of 1858-60.
In november 1859 a set of 50 stereoviews photographed in and around Canton was published by Negretti & Zambra under the title "Views in China". In 1861 they published  a second series which consisted of circa 30 views and follows Rossier’s first series
 
The view here for sale is number 6.
 
Albumen prints mounted on card. 
 
On the reverse a label with an extensive description.
 
A highly interesting view in good condition.