Photo album with 250 images of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iran and Iraq, compiled by a member of Paiforce in the 1940s

[Persia - Iraq - Palestine - Egypt]. Mekelburg, Corporal George (compiler). [Album of 250 photographs of the Middle East].

€ 2.000,00

Remarkable album with 250 photographs of cities and people in the Middle East in the 1940s, by a British soldier. The work contains a short letter written by the compiler of the album, Corporal George Mekelburg (dates unknown). He was a member of the Persia and Iraq Force (Paiforce), and was stationed at the Royal Air Force Station in Habbinya, Iraq. The main responsibilities of Paiforce were to protect the Iraqi and South Persian oil fields and to escort convoys to the Soviet Union via the Persian Corridor. Mekelburg would have taken part in these activities.

Mekelburg most likely took the photographs during a trip through the Middle East in 1943 or 1944, and then presented them to his sweetheart. It includes images of Cairo, the pyramids, and artefacts in an Egyptian museum, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Damascus, Tehran and Bagdad. The photographs not only show tourist locations, but also the locals, and a few snapshots of daily life in Paiforce. Mekelburg had a good eye for photography, as some of his images are very beautiful, especially the portraits of the locals. Of particular interest are also the ephemera included in the album, primarily bus tickets, the Christmas menu of the RAF Habbinya station for 1942 and 1943, and the military ribbons. The final few pages of the work contain annotations in pencil about mathematics and foreign exchange rates.

With a brown paper owner's label mounted on the inside of the front board ("Evelyn M. Boots"), together with a letter to "My darling" by George Mekelburg, and two British military ribbons (the ribbon of the 1939-45 star, and the ribbon of the Africa star). The cloth on the spine is somewhat worn, with some loss of material on the joint on the back. The paper on which the photographs are mounted is somewhat browned throughout, likely missing two photographs. Otherwise in good condition.