Tour in Algeria, 1872

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Summary

Title:

J. G. Pilter, Tour in Algeria

Dates:

1872

Creators:

Sarrault & Lombard, Sarrault, A., and Pilter, J. G.

Abstract:

A manuscript journal containing texts, photographs, maps, and letters documenting Englishman J. G. Pilter's travels in Algeria in 1872.

Extent:

1 album(s) (91 photographic prints)

Language:

Collection material is in French with some English.

Preferred citation:

J. G. Pilter, Tour in Algeria, 1872, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 93.R.33

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa93r33

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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

Acquisition information:

Acquired in 1993.

Processing information:

Processed and cataloged by Beth Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).

Arrangement:

Arranged in a single series: Series I. J. G. Pilter, Tour in Algeria, 1872.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Oases -- Algeria
Nomads -- Africa, North
Algerian diaries -- 19th century
Diaries
Albumen prints -- Algeria -- 19th century
Places:: Algeria -- Antiquities
Biskra (Algeria : Province)
Algeria -- Description and travel

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Beth Ann Guynn
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-05-14 13:51:17 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.