Interwar Travel Photography Mediterranean and Middle East Grand Tour Album Across Europe and British Mandate Palestine, 1927

Travel to Greece Egypt Turkey British Palestine

Archive

Photo album documenting a multi country group यात्रा in 1927 records interwar travel across southern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, including regions under colonial administration and recent political transition. The album follows a group of travelers moving from France through Italy, Greece, Turkey, British administered Palestine, and Egypt, capturing urban landmarks, archaeological sites, and local populations encountered along the route. The sequence provides visual evidence of tourism infrastructure, mobility, and cross cultural observation during a period when former imperial territories such as Constantinople were undergoing redefinition following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of modern nation states.

Album contains 93 black and white silver gelatin photographs and four real photo postcards, with images ranging approximately from 2.5 x 4 inches to 3.5 x 5.5 inches, and one larger group photograph measuring about 9 x 7 inches. Photographs are mounted on black paper boards with handwritten captions in white pencil and interleaved tissue guards; string bound in patterned cloth boards. The album opens in Avignon with views of St. Pierre’s Church and the Palais des Papes, then continues through Italy with scenes of Naples and Pompeii, as well as shipboard images captioned S.S. Adriatic. Subsequent sections include Athens with views of the Parthenon, followed by Constantinople, where four postcards depict the harbor, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia shortly after the end of the Ottoman Empire. In British Mandate Palestine, images show street scenes in Nazareth and Jerusalem, including sites along the River Jordan, the Western Wall, and the Garden of Gethsemane, alongside a captioned portrait labeled “A Jewish Maiden.” The album concludes in Egypt with extensive views of archaeological and urban sites at Thebes, Memphis, Cairo, and Luxor, including the Obelisk of Hatshepsut, Edfu Temple, the tomb of Amenhotep II, the Colossi of Memnon, and the pyramids and Great Sphinx at Giza, where the final group portrait shows the travelers posed on camels.

Produced during the interwar period, the album reflects expanding international tourism networks alongside ongoing European influence in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. The juxtaposition of ancient sites, modern transport, and local populations situates the material within broader histories of archaeology, empire, and travel culture in the early twentieth century. Light general wear to album and mounts; images well preserved with clear captions; overall very good condition.

Item #20831

Price: $685.00