429 - Three View Albums of the Orient, Camera Studies in Iraq, Beirut and Cairo

Three View Albums of the Orient, Camera Studies in Iraq, Beirut and Cairo Three printed view albums in oblong format: 1) Camera Studies in Iraq by A. Kerim, Baghdad, published by Hasso Bros., Baghdad. Dark brown embossed binding with a crinkled grain pattern and gold printing, cord binding with tassel; full-page photogravure plates in brown-black with engraved captions, among them the entrance of the Kadhimain Mosque in Baghdad. The cover with losses to a corner and an edge. 2) Album Beyrouth, brown board cover with gold-stamped lettering; mounted colour plates in postcard format on light card leaves, some protected by tissue paper, with French captions, among them Quartier Gare de Beyrouth and Vue du Quartier Sursock. 3) 36 Nice Artistic Views of Cairo published by the Cairo Postcard Trust, Cairo. Colour lithographed cover with an Egyptianising frieze and a black and white title vignette, cord binding; inside, numbered printed black and white plates with French and English captions, among them the Citadel with the Mohamed Ali Mosque. Cover and leaf edges with losses and tears. Condition commensurate with age, bindings with losses View albums of this kind were produced for the European and American travel market of the Near East, which developed rapidly after the First World War with the mandate territories. A. Kerim ran a studio in Baghdad and published his photographs through the Hasso Bros. bookshop; the Cairo Postcard Trust was one of the largest producers of picture postcards and souvenir portfolios in Egypt. The Sursock quarter in Beirut is named after the family of the same name, whose town palaces still characterise the district today. The photographs record cityscapes that have largely disappeared through the building activity of the 20th century and therefore possess independent value as historical sources.