Auction 58 - Rare and Important Items
Two Elephant-Folio Albums with Photographs from Syria and Jordan, 1894-1895 - The Expedition of Algernon Heber-Percy
Opening: $12,000
Unsold
Two monumental albums, with photographs from travels undertaken to Bashan, Argob, Moab and Gilead (presently Jordanian and Syrian territories) in the years 1894-1895.
Mounted on the album leaves are 174 photographs taken by British officer Algernon Heber-Percy (1845-1911), recording two of his expeditions to the Levant. Most of the photographs show archeological sites, ancient ruins, structures, Druze and Bedouin villages and the residents of the villages that Heber-Percy visited in the course of his travels.
* The first album is titled "Argob and Bashan, Photographs Taken by Algernon Heber-Percy", and it contains 86 photographs of sites that are today in Syrian territory [specifically Trachonitis (the Lajat), Bashan and Jabal al-Druze], which the photographer visited together with his spouse and two sons, in 1894.
The photographed sites include: villages in the Trachonitis region (the Lajat), sites in the cities of Qanawat, As-Suwayda, Bosra and other cities, the road from Damascus to Beirut, and more. The album also includes photographs of the region's Druze inhabitants.
* The second album is titled "Moab and Gilead, Photographs Taken by Algernon Heber-Percy", and it contains 88 photographs from sites that are today in Jordanian territory [Moab and Gilead], visited by the photographer in 1895.
The photographed sites include: Beth Ba'al Ma'on, Dhiban, Umm ar-Rasas, Amman, Salt (Al-Salt) and Jerash. The album also includes photographs of the region's Bedouin inhabitants and three photographs showing a travelling circus of trained animals (a monkey, a goat and a bear) encountered by the photographer in the Madaba area.
The photographs are arranged in two albums of extraordinarily large proportions (49X61 cm), shaped as book bindings. Each album contains heavy cardboard leaves with gilt edges; the title of each volume is inscribed in gilt and embossed letters. The albums were custom-made for their owners in England (a label reading "Bennion & Horne, Market Drayton" appears on one). Handwritten captions were added beneath the photographs (in English).
The photographer, Algernon Heber-Percy, documented the expeditions recorded in these photographs in writing as well. His description of his travels appears in two books published in London in 1895-1896: "A Visit to Bashan and Argob" (1895) and "Moab Ammon and Gilead" (1896). Some of the photographs in the albums were printed in these books.
First album (Argob and Bashan): 86 photographs. 14 are approx. 9.5X12 cm, and the rest are approx. 25X30 cm. Second album (Moab and Gilead): 88 photographs, approx. 25X30 cm. Albums approx. 49X61 cm, bound in leather bindings with gilt embossments. Gilt edges. Good overall condition. Stains to some of the photographs (resulting from contact with the photographs on facing pages). Stains to endpapers and cloth straps holding the left margins of the cardboard leaves. Light tears to cardboard margins. Peeling and slight defects to bindings.
Mounted on the album leaves are 174 photographs taken by British officer Algernon Heber-Percy (1845-1911), recording two of his expeditions to the Levant. Most of the photographs show archeological sites, ancient ruins, structures, Druze and Bedouin villages and the residents of the villages that Heber-Percy visited in the course of his travels.
* The first album is titled "Argob and Bashan, Photographs Taken by Algernon Heber-Percy", and it contains 86 photographs of sites that are today in Syrian territory [specifically Trachonitis (the Lajat), Bashan and Jabal al-Druze], which the photographer visited together with his spouse and two sons, in 1894.
The photographed sites include: villages in the Trachonitis region (the Lajat), sites in the cities of Qanawat, As-Suwayda, Bosra and other cities, the road from Damascus to Beirut, and more. The album also includes photographs of the region's Druze inhabitants.
* The second album is titled "Moab and Gilead, Photographs Taken by Algernon Heber-Percy", and it contains 88 photographs from sites that are today in Jordanian territory [Moab and Gilead], visited by the photographer in 1895.
The photographed sites include: Beth Ba'al Ma'on, Dhiban, Umm ar-Rasas, Amman, Salt (Al-Salt) and Jerash. The album also includes photographs of the region's Bedouin inhabitants and three photographs showing a travelling circus of trained animals (a monkey, a goat and a bear) encountered by the photographer in the Madaba area.
The photographs are arranged in two albums of extraordinarily large proportions (49X61 cm), shaped as book bindings. Each album contains heavy cardboard leaves with gilt edges; the title of each volume is inscribed in gilt and embossed letters. The albums were custom-made for their owners in England (a label reading "Bennion & Horne, Market Drayton" appears on one). Handwritten captions were added beneath the photographs (in English).
The photographer, Algernon Heber-Percy, documented the expeditions recorded in these photographs in writing as well. His description of his travels appears in two books published in London in 1895-1896: "A Visit to Bashan and Argob" (1895) and "Moab Ammon and Gilead" (1896). Some of the photographs in the albums were printed in these books.
First album (Argob and Bashan): 86 photographs. 14 are approx. 9.5X12 cm, and the rest are approx. 25X30 cm. Second album (Moab and Gilead): 88 photographs, approx. 25X30 cm. Albums approx. 49X61 cm, bound in leather bindings with gilt embossments. Gilt edges. Good overall condition. Stains to some of the photographs (resulting from contact with the photographs on facing pages). Stains to endpapers and cloth straps holding the left margins of the cardboard leaves. Light tears to cardboard margins. Peeling and slight defects to bindings.