Germany, Kriegsmarine. A Private Prewar and Wartime Photo Album from a Serviceman of I. Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung

(Kriegsmarine Fotoalbum). A fascinating and extremely well-preserved private photo album from a Kriegsmarine serviceman who initially saw service with I. Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung before being dispersed to a successor unit, constructed of a card stock binding with a canvas exterior liner, the spine perforated with four holes reinforced with magnetic metal eyelets through which is looped a drawstring that maintains the album’s structural integrity, the interior content consisting of 16 black card stock pages separated by wax paper dividers to mitigate wear to the images, pasted with 142 black-and-white photos, six period postcards, and two newspaper clippings, opening with the owner in training as a new recruit with fellow servicemen, with exercises on land and at sea, including images of the training ship Aviso Grille as well as the Kriegsmarine’s first U-Boat in dock, follow by unpublished images of AH visiting the base, with many images of the owner and personnel at leisure, closing with depictions of the war years with Kriegsmarine personnel on the North Sea coast (some in the wake of the Allied bombing of Flensburg), featuring studio portraits of the owner in his various ranks through the war, measuring 29 cm (w) x 22 cm (h), two photos are missing and the album demonstrates slight material fatigue, an interesting look at the career of a Kriegsmarine gunner in extremely fine condition.