19th Century Photographic Survey of India Far Sells for Nearly $57,000

An eight-volume Victorian-era photographic survey of the Indian subcontinent has dramatically exceeded expectations at auction, selling for £42,000 (approximately $56,825 at current exchange rates), far above pre-sale estimates of £4,000 to £6,000

Landmark Colonial-Era Publication Draws Strong Bidding

Lot 50, The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations…of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, by John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, was offered by auction house Forum Auctions in London as part of its “India” sale conducted February 2026. The set sold for £42,000 (approximately $56,825), far above a pre-sale estimate of £4,000 to £6,000 (roughly $5,400 to $8,100).

“Magnificent photographic survey of the peoples of India depicting different tribes, castes, religions, rulers, craftsmen, tradespeople, beggars etc. of all areas of India at the time. The list of plates in vol.6 calls for an additional plate 289-2 ‘Jubbul Khan’ but this is not present; the set sold at auction in 2012 was also lacking one of the additional plates from this volume so it was possibly never included. Rare to find such a complete set,” the auction listing states.

Comprising eight quarto volumes and 480 mounted albumen prints, the publication is one of the most ambitious 19th-century photographic surveys of colonial India. The prints are attributed to several photographers working in British India, including Willoughby Wallace Hooper, James Waterhouse, Henry C. MacDonald, Shepherd & Robertson, and Benjamin Simpson, among others.

Originally conceived in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the project sought to catalog what British administrators described as the “races and tribes” of the subcontinent. The resulting volumes depict a wide array of communities, professions, and social groups across the region, including rulers, soldiers, artisans, tradespeople, ascetics, and laborers. The images are mounted on thick paper, typically one to a page, accompanied by printed captions identifying subjects according to the classificatory frameworks of the period.

Rarity, Condition, and Contemporary Reassessment

Scholars today often view the work as both a landmark in early documentary photography and a product of imperial ethnography. While the technical achievement and scale of the undertaking remain widely acknowledged, the publication also reflects the colonial ideologies and racial taxonomies that shaped British administrative policy in India during the late 19th century. As such, complete or near-complete sets occupy a complicated place in photographic history.

The auctioned example was described as largely complete, with 480 albumen prints and possibly lacking only one plate listed in Volume 6. Condition issues were noted, including light marginal soiling, some perishing of gutta percha bindings, and discreet institutional blind stamps to the title pages. However, the original decorated cloth bindings were generally retained.

The considerable hammer price achieved at Forum Auctions suggests strong demand among institutions and private collectors for foundational works in the history of photography, especially those combining technical significance with historical weight. Large, cohesive photographic publications from the 1860s and 1870s remain uncommon on the market.

As interest continues in both the aesthetic qualities and the broader historical contexts of colonial imagery, works such as The People of India are increasingly evaluated not only as art objects but also as documentary artifacts that contribute to ongoing discussions about photography’s role in shaping global narratives and understandings of the past.

Image credits: Forum Auctions