Seoul was photographed by Carlo Rossetti in 1904-1905. These images and commentary were published in 1905 (Bergamo, Istituto D'Arti Grafiche). This book was republished in Italian in this century under the title Corea e coreani: Impressioni e ricerche sull’impero del Gran Han, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, USA, Nabu Press - Nabu Public Domain Reprints, 2011. A 21st century edition is also available in French: La Corée et les Coréens. Impressions et recherches sur l'Empire du Grand Han, Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 2002.
Rightly appreciated in Korea and further afield, Rossetti's work is one of the important anthropological accounts of that country in the early 20th century when Korean society was not well known in the West.
The pictures below are combinations of images taken from an on online Archive named Carlo Rossetti: Photos at Sogang University (Seoul), and pictures by R. Bertoni 2010/2013. The purpose is to show how development changes a place while maintaining some aspects in different guises.