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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
Bonfils, Felix (1831-1885) Souvenir d' Orient, album of photographs.
Alès, France: Privately printed by the author, 1878.
Oblong quarto; illustrated with 100 albumen prints pasted two to a sheet, with printed titles and interleaving description pages; bound in red morocco-backed pink cloth, decorated and lettered in gilt, printed floral endpapers, all edges gilt (leaves waved; minor closed short tears to a few leaves at stubs; rubbed, hinges starting); 11 1/4 x 6 3/4 in.
Felix Bonfils, of the prolific Maison Bonfils photography studio, was one of the first photographers to produce images of the Middle East for mass distribution. He and his family would often travel to Beirut, where they set up a studio that became known for its landscapes, portraits, and elaborately posed dramatic scenes. Today, their photographs are housed in many illustrious collections such as London's British Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco.
