HUGE "FAMILY ALBUM"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 19

HUGE "FAMILY ALBUM"

PORTRAITS OF THE GREAT AMERICAN'S 10,000 PICTURES [from oub own correspondent] LONDON, Jan. 25 The man with the world's largest private collection of celebrities' photographs is in London, to present some of them to museums and clubs. He is Mr. Harold Seton, of New York. Forty years ago, when a young man, he decided that his life's ambition was to compile the " largest family album " in tho world.

All his leisure since then has been devoted to the hobby, and he has achieved his ambition. He is now referred to in New York as the " walking social register of the nineties." " My collection now numbers 10,300 portraits," he told an interviewer. " I am offering 24 rare pictures of British actors and actresses of the past 75 years to the British Museum, and may give some to the Shakespeare Theatre, at Stratford-on-Avon." In 1895 Mr. Seton was New York's youngest regular first-nighter. For 30 years he attended the opening performance of every important theatrical production. He always went alone and never accepted a free ticket. In this way he came to know the leading American actors and actresses, and theatrical photographs form an important section of his collection. From bundles carefully wrapped in tissue paper he produced pictures of Mrs. Langtry, Mary Anderson, Mrs. Band-mann-Palmer, America's female "Hamlet," Miss Marie Tempest wearing tights in the New York production of " The Tyrolean," in 1891; Miss Edna Mav and many others. Mr. Seton's collection contains many portraits of English Royalty, ranging from Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort at tho timo of their betrothal, to snapshots of the Prince of Wales as a child. Costume designers and Hollywood producers often consult Mr. Seton for guidance on bygone fashions.