An archive of photographs of the Middle East /Levant digitized at the
British library
Includes Istanbul, Smyrna, Alexandria, Rhodes etc. at the period of the
Ottoman Empire
This link just came in that may be of general interest to your library
June S
Information courtesy of Chuck Jones / AWOL
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Posted: 26 Aug 2014 08:42 AM PDT
The Fouad Debbas Collection: assessment and digitisation of a precious
private collection. Photographs from Maison Bonfils (1867-1910s), Beirut,
Lebanon <http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?projID=EAP644;r=41>
British Library Endangered Archives Programme <http://eap.bl.uk/>
The aim of this project is to clean, list, index, catalogue and digitise a
collection of 3,000 photographs produced in the Middle East by the Maison
Bonfils <http://viaf.org/viaf/153695793/>, from 1867 to the 1910s.
The 3,000 items consist of albumen prints gathered in albums and
portfolios, glass plates, stereos, cabinet cards and cartes de visite. They
are part of the general Fouad Debbas <http://viaf.org/viaf/91567334/>
Collection,
which contains more than 40,000 photographs. The objective is to undertake
a survey, and increase access to and visibility of this most valuable and
endangered collection.
The Fouad Debbas Bonfils collection is the most extensive, varied and
richest photographic collection produced in the Levant at the end of the
Ottoman period. It is in fact one of the very few photographic collections
produced in Beirut from the late Ottoman period which are still preserved.
Established in 1867 in Beirut, the Bonfils house set out the first
photographic studio in Beirut and established photography as a business. As
such Mr Bonfils, his wife Lydie, (apparently the first woman photographer
of the whole area at that time) and children, all succeeded in capturing a
region of immense physical beauty (the landscape photos of Beirut and
Baalbeck), of varied ethnic composition (various portraits), and of rapid
socio-economic change, at a crucial moment of the region’s history. The
Bonfils Debbas collection is clearly an invaluable document registering the
history of a region at a crucial crossroads in the wake of great historical
upheaval which was about to sweep the region and bring about the Modern
Middle East as we know it...
VIEW FILES FROM THIS PROJECT
<http://eap.bl.uk/database/results.a4d?projID=EAP644;r=41>
- Project Overview
<http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?projID=EAP644;r=41#project_overview>
- Project Gallery
<http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?projID=EAP644;r=41#project_gallery>
- Project Outcome
<http://eap.bl.uk/database/overview_project.a4d?projID=EAP644;r=41#project_outcome>
- Show on Map <http://eap.bl.uk/database/map.a4d?showOnMap=EAP644>
The catalogue is available here
<http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BL%29&tab=local&dstmp=1408614772108&srt=author&ct=search&mode=Basic&dum=true&indx=1&vl%28freeText0%29=EAP644*&fn=search&vid=IAMS_VU2>
.
----------------------------------------
June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
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Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamosbooks(a)gmail.com
www.kalamosbooks.com
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