Constantinople et Ath nes.

Oblong album (370 x 284 mm) with 47 large albumen photographic prints, generally ca. 20 x 26 to ca. 22 x 28 cm, mostly signed and captioned in the negative (in French), mounted on both sides of the album's leaves. Original half calf binding with burgundy cloth covers, title gilt to upper cover. All edges gilt. A rare souvenir album containing 40 photographs of Istanbul and 7 of Athens. The Turkish images are almost exclusively signed by the renowned studio of Guillaume Berggren (1835-1920), the Swedish-born photographer who had come to Constantinople in 1866 and remained there for the rest of his life. Berggren's photographs were particularly popular with Scandinavian, German and Austrian tourists seeking souvenirs of their Middle-Eastern journey. The present album includes landscapes and city views, famous sights such as the Galata Tower and Bridge, the Yeni Cami Mosque, the Hagia Sophia with its interiors, a "shadirvan" fountain for ritual ablutions in front of the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, R stem Pasha Mosque, Skutari Cemetery, views of the Golden Horn, street scenes, dervishes, the Bosporus, the French embassy in Tarabya, the city port, the steps leading up the Grand Street of Pera (where Berggren's studio was located), etc. The Greek views include Mount Lycabettus, a two-image panorama of the Acropolis, the Olympieion and the so-called Theseion (Temple of Hephaestus). - A few photographs show insignificant loss of contrast, but they are altogether in good condition, mostly preserving their original crispness. A few images captioned in pencil on the backboard. Corners of binding bumped; leather chafed and spine-ends more markedly flawed. A fine collection.