[Photograph album of a British serviceman in Iraq].
Small oblong folio (260 x 180 mm). 103 silver gelatin photographs mounted in photo corners or laid down. Contemporary black leather, blindstamped with imitations of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
€ 1.500,00
An interesting album of snapshots taken in Sudan and Iraq in the 1930s. Although the photographer's name is not present, he was probably an RAF serviceman stationed in North Africa and the Middle East, as there are several images of billets and two official R.A.F. aerial photographs at the rear of the album.
The images of Iraq, including Khartoum, Baghdad and Samarra, are in the majority, and largely focus on leisure activities such as horse racing in the desert and trips to important archaeological sites. One attractive series documents an excursion to the ruins of Babylon with the Lion of Babylon and the Ctesiphon Arch. Among the images of Babylon are two brick reliefs from the Ishtar Gate (constructed ca. 575 BCE), a muscular aurochs, and the mythic mushussu dragon.
Light fading, otherwise well preserved.