Descrizione

Large folio (ca 35 x 47 cm). An album of 87 albumen photographs, mostly ca 36 x 26 cm to 26 x 20 cm, of which 17 show Egyptian locations. Mounted on cardboard leaves, bound in heavy, relief-stamped full calf. White moirée endpapers. All edges gilt. Among the Egyptian images (mostly unsigned, but several by Pascal Sébah and another by Antoine Beato) are a plan of the Suez Canal (with several inset images), Pompey's Column, the obelisk now known as "Cleopatra's Needle" (in New York City's Central Park), the Heliopolis Obelisk, the ruins of the ancient town of Hermonthis (Armant), the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid, a palm grove near Giza, groups of Arab men and women, street scenes, a panoramic view of Cairo, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, etc. Loosely inserted are a large (19 x 28 cm) portrait of an Arab warrior in Bedouin costume and a composite photo of eight portraits of Arab men and women in various types of local costume, with a handwritten note by the owner: "Bought at Port Said July 1876". The remainder of the photos of this fine souvenir album shows views and sights in Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Salerno, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, and Pisa. - Binding rubbed and bumped, but a well-preserved set.