74 - JOSEPH AUGUSTIN PEDRA 1806–1879

JOSEPH AUGUSTIN PEDRA 1806–1879 Collection of photographs of Algeria by Joseph Pedra: Arab tribe, the Algiers–Oran railroad, Tlemcen, Bois de Boulogne: Olivier du Bois, Ruins and Marabout, Bridge on the Road to Bel-Abbès, Ruins, Hammam Boughrara, Fort of Mers el-Kébir, Oran: Panorama and Port, Mostaganem, Mazagran, 1857–1863. Photographs. 12 albumen prints mounted on cardboard, period mounts labeled in ink. Images: 19.5 x 24.3 cm to 21 x 28 cm; mounts: 32.4 x 43.2 cm Pedra opened a studio in Tlemcen in 1857. There he met Gustave de Beaucorps in 1859 and later participated in the Paris World’s Fairs of 1867 and 1878. In 1875, his photographs were used to illustrate articles on Tlemcen published in *Le Tour du Monde*, a famous travel magazine edited by Charton. Pedra enjoyed great success thanks to the quality of his photographs, drawing in particular on his extensive knowledge of art. He nevertheless ended up living in a slum as a result of risky financial ventures. In 1881, the biochemist Élie-Émile Bourquelot recounted anecdotes about this colorful character in a book titled “En Algérie, souvenirs d’un Provinois.”