Zybach & Co (Table Rock, Niagara Falls, Canada)
Niagara Falls Souvenir Photographs, c. 1896
(sitter) Charles Chenery Puffer (United States) President of Pfaudler Vacuum Fermentation Co
(sitter) Frederick Mead (Johannesburg, South Africa) of South African Breweries (SAB)
(sitter) F. H. Collins (London, England)
(image) 9″ high x 7″ wide
(card) 12″ high x 10″ wide
Notes: Photograph of The Falls of Niagara, Canadian side, mounted on card by Canadian photographers Zybach & Company, Table Rock, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Zybach was given an exclusive 10-year lease to the Table Rock where they operated the hydraulic lift and ran a photography business. Pictured are three men on the rocks near the base of the Canadian end of Horseshoe Falls. Each is wearing serious rain gear with two of the men sitting on the rock while the third stands in the middle. The Falls looms large in the background rising almost surreally to the dark cloudy sky above adding to the sense of the dramatic.
The three men are identified in the hand-written description as Charles Chenery Puffer of the USA, Frederick Mead, of Johannesberg, SA., and F. H. Collins of London, England. It is noted in the Encyclopedia entry on Mead that during the year of 1896 South African Breweries (SAB), of which he started and ran, purchased the machinery from Pfaduler Vacuum Fermentation Co (Pfaudler Co. of which Puffer was President.) to make their famed lager. It is likely this deal was struck while in Niagara Falls during the same business trip commemorated in this photograph.
Dimensions: Image: 9” x 7”; Card: 12” x 10”
Markings: printed margins lower left, “ZYBACH & CO”; printed in margins lower center, “TABLE ROCK”; printed in margins lower right, “NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.”; inscribed in black ink in margins base, “C. C. Puffer Avon N.C.” / “Frederick Mead Johannesberg, Trausrad(?), S. A.” / “F. H. Collins London, England”; dated in inscription, in black ink, lower left, ‘Nov 14th 1896”
Condition: Very Good Condition with minimal bumping and wear to the extremities.
