Engravings in the illustrated newspapers were the first view most British people had of Hong Kong in the 1800s. Here is a small set I bought last year, starting with one from the weekly "Illustrated London News" (ILN).

Dec 27, 1856 - The Illustrated London News

Thanks to Jan Schultheiss, who has been uploading photos that his grandfather, P. Marks, took in the 1920s. Mr Marks worked in the Hong Kong branch of a Dutch bank, the Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank, but in his free time he was a keen amateur photographer.

Many of his photos show views that are new to me. So, although I've often seen this old gun near the upper entrance to the HKU campus:

Greetings from sunny San Po Kong!

We moved flats last weekend, so after 25 years living in and around Kennedy Town on Hong Kong island, it's time to get to know Kowloon better. The new flat looks out over the old Kai Tak Airport site, so let me show you the view, and a few points of interest.

Looking northeast

About 20-30 years ago, when postcards were still widely used, I had a deal with a friend that we'd send each other the least attractive postcards we could find: 1960s concrete shopping centres were a popular choice! This view from 1900s Hong Kong would have been a fine contender:

We'll start with some photos and postcards I bought last month. Then as I've been arguing with the book designer about what makes a good photo, we'll take a look at that too.

The seven photos are all the small type that were typically sold to tourists to go in to their photo album. In this case I don't see any sign that the photos were mounted, so the original owner probably just kept them loose. (As always, you can click on any photo to see a larger copy you can zoom in to.)