brian cassidy bookselle

(5) Oblong string-tied commercial album measuring 13.25” x 10” approx.
Imitation leather embossed with a horse bust design and “Photographs”
at front cover. Hand-lettered title page “Nanking China/
Nov. 9th 1945/ to/ Feb. 12th 1946”. One photo measuring 2.75” x 4”
approx. and 290 B&W photographs measuring 2.25” x 1.75” approx.
corner-mounted to 14 leaves recto and verso, most with hand-written
captions. Photographs depict scenes from an airfield, the city of
Nanking (Nanjing,) Shanghai, aboard the transport ship USS General
Scott, arrival in Seattle, train journey, domestic family scenes and a
welcoming parade in Buffalo, NY. Laid in are four photographs of various
sizes from 2.5” x 2.5” approx. to 8” x 10” approx. Album lightly
edge-worn. Some pages disbound but present. Generally very good.
Peter R. Betz (identified by his name and postwar address in the rear
of two of the albums) served with the U.S. Army in the Pacific, and
his photographs document that theater and the Philippines Campaign
in detail. Nearly every photograph features Betz’s neat, holograph
captions, and the albums in general are highly organized, making for
an incredibly thorough photographic biography of a soldier.
The earliest photographs are dated 1927 and feature images of a Boy
Scout troop and camping trip. Two of the albums also contain several
images of the Betz’s family, including parents, siblings, and cousins.
Many of these family portraits are hand tinted. Betz’s documentation
of his Army career begins in 1937 and ‘38, with his service in
Hawaii and Panama. The photographs regarding this time are casual
and candid: soldiers relaxing in barracks and off-base in Honolulu
and Waikiki beach, hiking trips in the mountains of Hawaii, native
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