[Oil exploration]. [Photograph album: Oil prospecting across the world].

€ 12,500.00

Uncommon collection of photographs recording the development of the oil industry in the early 1920s, assembled by a British official visiting oil prospects in Iran, Oman, Albania and Argentina, including city views of Muscat, Godar Landar, Ahvaz and Jarahi River (Iran). Comprises numerous images of wells and reservoirs, including exploration sites near Patos, Albania, where the largest onshore oil field in Continental Europe would be discovered in 1928 (Patos-Marinëz), as well as oil production at Comodoro Rivadavia, a site considered the "finest oil field in the Argentine". Further, three rare and somewhat unsettling images of "native well dunkers" - young men being lowered into or emerging from oil wells wearing makeshift diving helmets. Also, some photographs of Guatemala city and Myanmar (Burma), including shots of Haungtharaw River and jungle scenery, as well as images of seabird populations on Handa island and Scottish lochs.