Glover’s House, Nagasaki, about 1865–68. Albumen silver print.
While Beato was in Nagasaki, he photographed multiple views of the harbor, the foreign quarter, the cemetery, and the house of Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant. Glover was involved in bringing numerous technological innovations to Japan, including the printing press and the first railroad. Glover also famously sold guns and gunpowder to rebellious clans who helped overthrow the shogunate. He built his house in 1863 and then commissioned Beato to take pictures of his new house and garden.
Geisha at a Tea House (Geisha on Charles Longfellow’s Veranda), Tokyo, 1872. Hand-colored albumen silver print.
In 1872, Charles Longfellow commissioned Beato to photograph his new house in Tokyo. The son of the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts, “Charley” lived in Japan from 1871 to 1873. Beato gave photographs such as this more generic titles when he added them to his general inventory for collectors.