Descrizione

4to (24.5 × 18 cm). With title-page printed in red and black and 48 albumen prints (measuring ca. 10 × 13 cm) mounted on leaves with lithographed captions. Original publisher's goldblocked blue cloth, gilt edges. First and only edition of a collection of 48 albumen prints of photographs by the British photographer Francis Bedford (1816-94). "A significant boost to his reputation came with the commission to accompany the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, on a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land in the spring and early summer of 1862. The resulting images were exhibited in London in July 1862 [.] Selections from Bedford's Middle Eastern views were included in [.] The Holy Land, Egypt, Constantinople, Athens etc" (Hannavy). The photographs mainly show ancient and Islamic architecture, as well as some landscape views, in and around Cairo, Gizeh, Thebes, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Damascus, Baalbek, Istanbul (Constantinople), Athens and more. The photographs are accompanied by an introduction and 100 pages of descriptive text by W. M. Thompson. - With bookplate. Slightly browned with some occasional foxing, not affecting the photographs. Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities. Overall in good condition. - Blackmer 1483. J. Hannavey, Encyclopedia of 19th-century photography, pp. 134-136.