Item #18738 Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine. British Palestine Zionism.
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine
Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine

Photo Album of the People and Land of British Mandate Palestine

Zionism, British Palestine

Photo Album

British Mandate Palestine Photo album with 107 sepia toned black and white photographs of Palestine, its inhabitants, and the Zionist figures instrumental in the creation of the Israeli state, including Theodor Herzl, Baron Edmond De Rotschild, Sir Herbert Samuel, and the Aaronsohns. Photographs measure approximately 6" x 4", are numbered, and are captioned in English and Hebrew. Album pages separated by vellum sheets. Brown cloth boards with front cover blindstamped with a seal of Modea, which aimed to "help the rebuilding and the preservation of that which exists in Palestine." Portrait photographs of influential Zionists include Theodor Herzl, Baron Edmond De Rotschild, Abraham Gooddall, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Sir Herbert Samuel, and Sarah and Aaron Aaronsohn. The people of Palestine are also pictured, including the Chief Guard of Rehoboth, Abraham Blumenfeld, Rabbis, Yemeni and Turkish Jews, Bedouins, and others. Theodor Herzl and his most powerful patron, Baron Edmond de Rotschild, are pictured, both of which were absolutely essential in the establishment of Israel as the architects of Political Zionism. Herzl's Zionist writings were seminal in creating a movement to attract diasporic Jews back to the Holy Land, and Rotschild's patronage, which helped disseminate these ideas, was crucial to that project. Rotschild invested into productive agriculture and viniculture in the region, the effects of which can be seen in the photos of vineyards, olive, and orange groves in this album. In this album, British politician Herbert Samuel is titled as the High Commissioner of Palestine, a post he held from 1920-35, so the album was very likely produced in this period. Samuel was a pioneering figure for European Jews, being the first nominally-practicing Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to become the leader of a major British political party. Samuel used his position to promote Zionism within the British Cabinet, beginning with his 1915 memorandum entitled The Future of Palestine. In addition to Herbert, two other prominent British Jews, Aaron and Sarah Aaronsohn are pictured. The Aaronsohn siblings were members of NILI, a Jewish espionage network which assisted the United Kingdom in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine between 1915 and 1917, during World War I. Finally, we can see a picture of Russian linguist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who can be credited as the intellectual stalwart that revived the Hebrew language, allowing the nascent Jewish community to develop a coherent linguistic and cultural identity. Some photos show Jaffa, one of the oldest regions of Tel Aviv, but most of the urban scenes focus on the ancient city of Jerusalem. String binding has become loose and the pages are no longer bound, but are in good condition individually, with minimal cracking and chipping and no effect on photos. An essential album depicting British Mandate Palestine and the people who were foundational to the creation of Israel.

Item #18738

Price: $4,200.00