"There are few countries in the world where geological structure is more magnificently displayed"

[Anglo-Iranian Oil Company]. Geological Air Photographs of South West Persia.

€ 9,500.00

Monumental aerial survey of South-Western Iran: number 12 of only 50 numbered copies. These elaborate sets were likely prepared under the direction of the geologist and explorer J. V. Harrison (1892-1972) for the use of geology students. The massive album features tipped-in original photographs commissioned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and published only a year or so before the 1951 nationalization of the AIOC. The nationalization would soon result in British retaliation, which gave rise to the Abadan Crisis in the 1950s.

Designed as an aid for geologists and students, this album aimed to train the next generation of oil prospectors. A student would emerge better informed regarding not only the finer details of stratigraphy, but also the Iranian landscape in particular, especially the oil-rich south-western region. Pasted in and tucked in plastic envelopes throughout are the nearly one hundred original black and white aerial photographs which form the basis of this publication. Many include a tipped-on transparent sheet labelling the geology and landmarks of a particular photograph, with maps and captions further to illustrate the science found in the Iranian landscape. Photographed areas include the Kabir Kuh range in the Zagros Mountains, Kuh-i-Kainu, and Zarden-Kuh; in general, the area covered by the photographs runs parallel to the line of oil fields which stretch from Lali in the north to Gach Saran in the south.

Hunting Geosurveys, an aerial surveying company based in Britain which operated its own fleet of specialized aircraft, were responsible for the photographs themselves, which were taken on a series of sorties between 1935 and 1949. Hunting's pilots photographed wide swathes of oil fields in West Asia and Arabia in the mid-20th century, including several passes of Iran shown here. Together, the aerial photography and the supplementary geological material form a thorough, scientific picture of Iranian oil country.