1863 Sinai and Palestine

Description

Illustrated

With thirty-seven mounted photographs total. Each photograph remains in a bright condition. Collated, complete. The gutta percha binding has given way which is normal. Most copies have been rebound but this one is in the original and unmolested state. Each plate has one or two leaves of description, providing context to that area and also of the photograph itself. There are photographs of The Summit of Gebel Moosa, Sinai, Gaza, The Villagge of siloam and Valley of Kidron, the Mount of Olives, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the dead sea, the Circular Temple at Baalbec and much more. Very scarce, particularly in the original publisher's quarter morocco binding. These photographs are taken by Francis Frith, a noted photographer in the Middle East. He journeyed to the Middle East for three occasions to take photographs, using the collodion process. Frith was one of the first people to experiment with glass negatives. This allowed him to print his photography multiple times and therefore make them available for a wider audience. Much of the work is detached from the original binding, as is common with these gutta percha bindings. This work is undated, though has a note to the title page 'Awarded a Prize Medal' the 1862 Londini Honoris Causa. Gernsheim notes that this is the second publication of these photographs, which originally appeared in 1859 in a two volume set. However 'The prints in this edition are of a much stronger quality than those in the first edition having been gold-toned' (Gernsheim).