Monuments de l'Egypte ancienne et moderne photograph album, 1860-1869

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Summary

Title:
Monuments de l'Egypte ancienne et moderne
Dates:
1860-1869
Creators:
Hammerschmidt, W., d. 1869, photographer.
Abstract:
Album of photographs of Egypt by W. Hammerschmidt, from 1860-1869 when Hammerschmidt worked in Egypt.
Extent:
1 album (83 photographic prints) : albumen silver, 41 x 52 cm (album)
Language:
Finding aid is written in English. and Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Monuments de l'Egypte ancienne et moderne (Collection 94/35). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Background

Scope and content:

Hammerschmidt's albumen silver prints, printed using a collodion glass negative, document the great mosques, temples, tombs, and other archaeological sites of Egypt, especially in Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel. Photos of Alexandria include views of the Place des Consuls, and Pompey's Pillar. In Cairo, there are many photos of the Citadel, and the Mosque of Muhammed Ali, as well as the area around the Citadel, including the striped facades of mosques and minarets, a strangely empty souk, and a streetscape of Coptic houses. The pyramids in Giza are highlighted by a row of palm trees, and the body and paws of the Sphinx remain unexcavated; only the great head of the Sphinx is visible in the sand. The album contains views of many of the antiquities sites, such as Dandara, the temples of Luxor viewed from the Nile, the massive columns of the temple at Karnak, the temple of Ramses III at Medina Habu, the colossal statues of Memnon near Valley of the Kings, and the temple pylons at Idfu and Philae. In Aswan, feluccas, or traditional Egyptian sailboats, line the riverbank at Aswan, and there is also a view of Elephantine Island in the Nile. The album concludes with the Great Temple of Abu Simbel near the southern border with Sudan.

Biographical / historical:

W. Hammerschmidt was a professional photographer, born in Berlin, Germany, active in Egypt between 1860 and 1869, where he maintained a studio, selling photographs, and photographic equipment, and supplies. He exhibited his photographs of Egypt at the Société Franc?aise de Photographie in 1861 and 1863, and at the Exposition Universelle in 1867. Cf. Focus East: early photography in the Near East (1839-1885) / by Nissan N. Perez. New York: Abrams, c1988, p. 174; and the Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography / John Hannavy, ed. London: Routledge, 2007, v. 1, p. 633, available online.

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
Physical facet:

Photographs (23.8 x 31.4 cm) are mounted on rectos of leaves of heavy white card stock; photographer's name and stock number stamped in lower left or right corner of each photo; numbers above and identifying captions in French below in ms. ink.

Bound in brown leather covers; gold-stamped cover title "Monuments de l'Egypte ancienne et moderne;" glossy textured white endpapers.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Note:

Dates from years Hammerschmidt worked in Egypt.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Jane Carpenter with assistance from Simon Elliott; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
Date Prepared:
© 2013
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from MARC record, encoding added via Notetab Pro. Date of source: 2013 . Supplementary encoding and revision by Caroline Cubé.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Monuments de l'Egypte ancienne et moderne (Collection 94/35). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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