Photographies de Terre Sainte (Album of 24 Photochrom & Chromolithographic Prints of the Holy Land)
Jerusalem/ Beirut: Boulos Meo/ T.R. Dumas et Fils/ Photochrom Zurich, [ca. 1890s]. Hardcover. Oblong small quarto. 25 heavy stock paper leaves. Custom binding of elaborate carved dark wood boards, with a embossed raised wood or enamel inlay, carved into the shape of the Aedicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Dark brown pebbled leather spine with raised bands, gilt lettering, ruling and tooling. Edges in gilt. Lustrous white endpapers. Title page with gilt-stamped text.
Album of 24 Photochrom & Chromolithographic prints, assembled and sold by the Boulos Meo Souvenir & Antique shop, historically located next to the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. Nearly all prints are captioned in gilt in lower corner of the image, with most being numbered as well. All plates contain a typed caption in French, pasted under the print (sometimes inaccurate). 14 of the prints were produced by the pioneering inventors of the Photochrom process, Photochrom Zurich (Photoglob Zürich). 12 of these bear the company's "P.Z." gilt-stamp in the image, with two others being slightly trimmed to the point where the stamp and caption is no longer visible. The 10 other prints were produced by T.R. Dumas et Fils, Beirut. These are cruder, more painterly images and seem to be chromolithographs based on original photographs, rather than photographic images themselves.
Images here show scenes from the areas of Jaffa (including the coast and the Bazaar) and Jerusalem (landscapes, exteriors and interiors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Hezekiah's Pool/Patricarch's Pool, exterior and interior of the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Garden of Gethsemane, The Mount of Olives, Jews at The Western Wall, and the Tombs of the Kings). Also included are images of Bethlehem (including the Church of the Nativity), Nazareth, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea.
Binding with some ribbing and light chipping to the head and tail of the spine. Interior with some foxing and age toning to the leaves, usually confined to the margins. Images mostly unaffected and are still quite clean and vibrant. Binding in good+ to very good-, interior in good, images in very good- to near fine condition overall. g to near fine. Item #54489
These albums were traditionally sold to tourists (usually Christian) in Jerusalem during the period, at the antique and souvenir shop of Boulos Meo. The albums normally contained a printed title plate, in one of a number of different languages, with the title "Photographs of the Holy Land". Some contained color prints (Dumas and Photochrom Zurich). Each one of these albums had similar contents, with some of the same images, but not exactly the identical collection of images/photographs.
Price: $1,750.00