STUNNING COLLECTION OF 69 EXHIBITION-SIZE 19TH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS OF EGYPTIAN TEMPLES AND MONUMENTS

SEBAH, J. Pascal, DITTRICH, P., PERIDIS, Pappa, and BECHARD, H. Collection of 69 photographs. Cairo: J.P Sebah, P. Dittrich, Pappa Peridis, H. Bechard, circa 1880. Vintage albumen prints (each measuring about 8-1/2 by 11 inches), individually mounted on heavy card stock (total measures 11 by 14 inches), most captioned and signed with photographer's studio imprint in the negative, later printed labels on mount versos. Housed in three matching custom clamshell boxes. $12,000.

69 Striking exhibition-size photographs, circa 1880-1890, of Egyptian temples and monuments, by J. Pascal Sebah and other pioneering photographers in the early trade in images of Egyptian antiquities, including photographs from many of the most iconic temples and locations in Egypt, including the Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak, the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri, the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, the Temple of Amon at Luxor and the Great Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel.

Near the end of the 19th century, "the Middle East exerted an irresistible attraction" to much of Europe. "It was in Egypt that the first resident photographic studios were opened" (Frizot, 161), encouraging the work of photographers such as J. Pascal Sébah, famed for his "fine images produced in Turkey and Egypt" (Hannavy, Encyclopedia of 19th-Century Photography I:1260) and P. Dittrich, the first German photographer to set up shop in Cairo. This collection includes 31 photographs by Sébah and 17 by Dittrich, plus 21 additional photographs by other photographers, including Pappa Peridis and H. Bechard. This collection includes multiple images of the Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (10), the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri (9), the Tomb of Ti at Sakkara (7), the Temple of Hathor at Denderah (6), the Temple of Amon at Luxor (6), the Temple of Seti I at Abydos (5), the Temple of Isis at Island of Philae (4), Ramses III's Temple at Medinet Habu (3), the Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel (3), the Ramesseum at Thebes (3), the Temple of Horus at Edfu (2) and the Temple at Kalabsha (2) and individual images, including other sites at Karnak, Sakkara and Thebes. With institutional printed labels to mount versos.

A fine collection.