Souvenir View Albums, such as this 1900 selection of images representing the province of Quebec, were a popular item throughout the latter decades of the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth century. They were produced by stationers, booksellers, and railways to capture the imagination of those traveling to various locales, or to act as souvenirs and were often given as gifts. This particular album was produced by C. E. Holiwell, the stationer to the Governor General of Canada and the Army and Navy Stationer of Quebec. The books, which feature photographs or photo-mechanically reproduced drawings based on photographs frequently sport elaborately gilded and eye-catching covers. The post-card sized images are showcased on a long accordion folded sheet, producing an interesting wallet-like effect (though for viewing convenience, the following gallery shows images separately or page-by-page).
Source: Canadian Souvenir View Albums : http://www.gallery.ca/sva/intro_e.htm