An Adventurous Woman Abroad: The Selected Lantern Slides of Mary T.S. Schaffer (The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies Presents)

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, travelling within North American borders or beyond to exotic locations was difficult at best and disastrous at worst. Mary Schäffer, born into a Pennsylvania-based Quaker family in 1861, not only conquered international travel but also excelled as an explorer, surveyor and photographer in the backcountry of Canadas Rocky Mountains and the isolated communities of Japan and Formosa (now Taiwan).

Michale Langs new book features more than 200 of Mary Schäffers colourful, hand-painted lantern slides from the archives of the Whyte Musem of the Canadian Rockies. These unique works of art detail some of the indigenous people and breathtaking landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, along with tribal communities of Japan and Formosa. Schäffers writing, Michale Langs accompanying narrative and the books overall design (inspired by the work of Barbara Hodgson, author and designer of The Tattooed Map, No Place for a Lady and Opium) opens a unique window on the Victorian obsession with international travel and discovery.