Lot #78: 1929 "Latvijas skatu albums" (Latvian Views Album) & Latvian History Scrapbook

Latvijas skatu albums" (Album of Latvian Views), compiled by J. Students and published in 1929 by the famous Riga publishing house "Grāmatu Draugs" (Friend of Books). Pages have been compiled into a personalized owner's binding, utilizing a classic red-and-black marbled hardcover notebook of the era. Inside, the original publication pages have been carefully preserved. The album serves as an extraordinary visual time capsule of independent, pre-WWII Latvia, featuring large-format, high-quality historical photographs of Riga and various other towns, landscapes, and landmarks across the Latvian countryside. Contents & Photographic Highlights Include: • Historical Eras & Figures: Features a portrait of early Latvian political leadership alongside depictions of pivotal landmarks like the Freedom Monument (Brīvības piemineklis) and the city clock in Riga. • Architecture & Panoramic Views: Sweeping aerial views of historical Riga (Rīga Ziemā), the J.G. Herder-Institut, and the iconic, modernist Ķemeru Viesnīca (Ķemeri Hotel) designed by Aleksandrs Klinklāvs. • Industrial Progress: Photographic documentation of major engineering feats of the era, such as the construction of the Ķegums Hydroelectric Power Station (Ķeguma būve). • Cultural Heritage & Monuments: Deeply moving images of the Usma Church at the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum (Usmas baznīca Brīvības muzejā), the Tērvete Sanatorium embedded in pine forests, regional heraldry/crests, and interwar military monuments like the Machine Gunner's Hill (Ložmetējkalns). • Multilingual Context: While the primary headings and framing text are deeply rooted in the Latvian language, the photo captions at the bottom are uniquely given in five languages (Latvian, German, English, Russian, and French), demonstrating its intended use as a showcase of Latvian pride to the international community. Newspaper Clippings and Feature Cutouts • "Dzimtā Puse" (The Homeland / Native Side): In the final image, the bold title text "DZIMTAJA PUSE" is clipped directly from a newspaper or periodical header. Below it, the owner pasted descriptive news text columns detailing regional lore, including a section highlighting the famous Gūtmaņa ala (Gutman's Cave). • Church Features: The opposite page includes a clipped article and photo layout explicitly covering the historical altar of Liepāja's St. Anna's Church (Liepājas Sv. Annas Baznīcas Altāris). • Political & Cultural Context: The very first layout contains a cropped portrait of a prominent figure paired with an English-captioned cutting detailing a monument scene ("Strollers pass by city clock in Riga..."), likely taken from a Baltic English-language press publication or tourist gazette of the era. 2. Regional Coat of Arms & Heraldry Stamps • On the page featuring the Staburags cliff landscape, the owner carefully arranged a pyramid of colorful, printed Latvian city and regional crests (heraldry) onto the graph paper grid. These include the historical coat of arms for Riga, Kurzeme, Vidzeme, and other traditional districts, which were not part of the standard book release. 3. Historical Text Blocks • In several spreads, long blocks of printed antiquarian typography (such as the history of Vecpiebalgas Baznīca / Vecpiebalga Church) have been trimmed out of a separate historical gazette or textbook and affixed alongside the imagery with mounting tape. Pickup category timeslot {A}