The mosques of Jerusalem in large format

[Mosques]. Bonfils, Félix. [Large photographs of mosques in Palestine, Istanbul, and Egypt].

[Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and Greece, ca. 1870s].

Large folio (620 x 508 mm). A total of 31 albumen prints (of an average size of 390 x 280 mm), individually mounted on card. Contemporary red half morocco and pebbled red cloth, titled in gilt on spine.

 28,000.00

A fine album of large-format photographs mainly of Egypt and Palestine, including numerous fine and early views of mosques, all by the most famous 19th century photographer of the Arab world, Félix Bonfils (1831-85). Among the famous locations captured in his high-quality albumen prints are the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, the newly-built Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali (one image showing the fountain of ablution), the Sultan Qaytbay Mosque and funerary complex, as well as the Tombs of the Caliphs, the Fountain of the Valide Sultan, and the so-called Chair of Omar (Membar) in the Temple Square. Ancient Egypt is well represented, as well. In Jerusalem, the collection includes views of the Mosque of Omar (that is the Dome of the Rock, or Qubbat al-Sakhrah), the Church of Saint Anne with the Dome of the Rock, as well as Zion Gate and several street scenes in the older districts of the city, but also the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Kanisatu al-Qiyamah), with Christian priests posing on a balcony, some standing on a ladder which is famously permanent - by rumour due to the Status Quo agreement between the numerous Christian sects which use the church. In Istanbul (Constantinople), the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque is pictured. A few additional images show the tidewater at Jaffa and two sites in Athens. All photographs are signed and titled in plate by Bonfils.

Some exterior wear; the large-sized photographs are well preserved.