Two albumen prints by Isaiah West Taber of San Francisco occupy opposite sides of a single album leaf, both captioned in the image border and numbered within Taber's published series. The Observatory Peak view carries the full caption "General View of Observatory Peak and Buildings, East side. Photo. by H. E. Mathews, Published by Taber," catalog number B 2590, identifying the image as one made by H. E. Mathews and distributed through Taber's commercial publishing operation. The Montgomery Street view is captioned "B 31. Montgomery Street, S. F., Cal. Taber Photo., San Francisco."

The Observatory Peak image shows a sweeping elevated view of the hilltop complex, with a multi-story brick observatory building and dome visible at the summit, a windmill and water tank to the left, rutted dirt access roads cutting up the slope, outbuildings and a fenced livestock pen in the foreground, and at least one figure visible near the barn. The Montgomery Street view looks north along a cobblestone roadway flanked by ornate commercial blocks, with streetcar rails centered in the street, gas lamp posts along the sidewalks, and a tall clock tower visible at the vanishing point.

Isaiah West Taber operated one of San Francisco's most prolific commercial photography studios from the 1870s through the early 1900s, producing and distributing large albumin view series documenting the city and California landmarks. Montgomery Street was the commercial spine of Gilded Age San Francisco, and the Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton is the likely subject of the peak view. The lot consists of a single double-sided album page with a printed image on each face. The album page measures 8 1/2 by 12 1/4 inches, with each image approximately 4 3/4 by 7 1/4 inches.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer