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Title: J. G. Pilter, Tour in Algeria
Date (inclusive): 1872
Number: 93.R.33
Creator/Collector:
Pilter, J. G.
Physical Description:
1 album(s)
(91 photographic prints)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: A manuscript journal containing texts,
photographs, maps, and letters documenting Englishman J. G. Pilter's travels in Algeria in
1872.
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Language: Collection material is in French with some English
The journal was compiled by an Englishman identified as J. G. Pilter. J. G. Pilter may be
Sir John George Pilter (1848-1932), a Englishman living in Paris, who was variously Chairman
of the Commercial Information Department; President of the British Chamber of Commerce,
Paris; Chairman of the British Charitable Fund; Chairman of Hertford British Hospital; and
Vice-chairman of the British Schools in Paris. He was a member of the Royal Commission of
the 1900 Paris Exhibition. Pilter was a Commander of the Tunisian Order of Nicham Iftikhar
(Order of Glory) and a Knight Officer of the Legion of Honour.
Twenty-nine photographs bear credits related to Jean-Joseph-Alfred Sarrault who had
photography studios at various times in Versailles and Paris, France, and Constantine and
Bougie (Béjaïa), Algeria. In Paris, he was associated with a photographer by the name of
Lombard and together they had a photoglyphic factory in Nanterre for producing prints by the
photo-etching process. In 1867, Sarrault won a medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
Some of his photographs of the 1868 famine in Algeria were published in
L'Illustration and were also distributed by Nadar.
Sources consulted:
Dod, Robert Phipps. "Sir John George Pilter."
Dod's Peerage,
Baronetage and Knightage, of Great Britain and Ireland…Including All the Titled
Classes
. London: S. Low, Marston & Company, 1908.
Dupont, Gilles. "Sarrault, Jean Joseph Alfred," Ils on photographie Biskra.
http://photographesdebiskra.blogspot.com/2010/03/sarrault.html
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
J. G. Pilter, Tour in Algeria, 1872, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession
no. 93.R.33
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa93r33
Acquired in 1993.
Processed and cataloged by Beth Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant
funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
Scope and Content of Collection
The journal by Englishman J. G. Pilter documenting his trip to Algeria in November and
December of 1872 includes 91 albumen photographs; three maps with travel routes indicated in
red ink; three tipped-in official letters in French and Arabic urging local sheikhs to
adequately provide for the travelers' needs; and a newspaper clipping. Eleven pages of the
text include small photographic reproductions of drawings of desert scenes. Seventy-five
pages contain text only. The narrative and images begin in Stora and proceed to
Phillippeville (Skikda), Bône (Annaba), Guelma, Hammam Maskhoutine, Batna, Chabet el Akhra,
El Kantara, and Biskra. Included are numerous views of nomad encampments, Roman ruins, and
oasis landscapes. A large number of the images document Biskra and nearby villages and oases
such as El Kantara and Sidi Okba.
Twenty-seven photographs bear the printed credit on their mounts: A. Sarrault à Versailles.
Two photographs bear the printed credit on their mounts: Usine photoglyptique à Nanterre. A.
Sarrault & Lombard. The photographer(s) of the remaining photographs are
unidentified.
The title on the front cover reads: Tour in Algeria. J. G. Pilter. November-December 1872.
Page numbers are handwritten at the top of each page following the title page. English
captions are printed or handwritten, usually in ink, on the mounts, except where noted.
Titles of the individual photographs were derived from either the Sarrault mount titles or
the handwritten captions, as noted. Titles for the images lacking titles on the piece were
devised by the archivist.
Arranged in a single series:
Series I. J. G. Pilter, Tour in Algeria, 1872.
ref323_ktb
Oases -- Algeria
Nomads -- Africa, North
Algerian diaries -- 19th century
Algeria -- Antiquities
Biskra (Algeria : Province)
Algeria -- Description and travel
Diaries
Albumen prints -- Algeria -- 19th century
Sarrault & Lombard
Sarrault, A.
Pilter, J. G.