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Carte-de-visite album of Algeria
2019.R.1
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Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Carte-de-visite album of Algeria
Creator: Leroux, A. (Alexandre), 1836-1912
Identifier/Call Number: 2019.R.1
Physical Description: 1 Linear Feet(Album of 52 photographs)
Date (inclusive): 1870s-1880s
Abstract: The carte-de-visite album contains 50 cartes-de-visite of Algeria and Algerians by various photographers including Jean Geiser
and Alexandre Leroux; a two-part panorama of Algiers by Jean Geiser made from two joined horizontal cabinet cards; and a panoramic
view of Oran by A. Decugis showing the port and military hospital, also on a horizontal cabinet card.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
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Language of Material: English.
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The album is arranged in a single series: Series I.Carte-de-visite album of Algeria, 1870s-1880s.
Lucien-Jacob Geiser (1810-1852), an ébéniste by trade, immigrated to Algeria from Switzerland with his wife Julie and three
sons in 1850, but died shortly thereafter in 1852. It is unclear whether Geiser père opened the photography business or his
widow Julie opened it after her husband's death, but the family eventually partnered with Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Alary (1810-c.
1867), an early daguerreotypist, renaming the firm Alary & Geiser. After Alary's death the youngest Geiser son, Jean-Théophile
(1848-1923), took over the business, running it into the 1920s under the name Jean Geiser.
Alexandre Leroux owned and operated a photography studio in Algiers from the 1870s until his death in 1912. After his death,
his sons continued selling his prints using his stamp.
Little is known about the photographers L. Cairol; A. Decugis; Elie Karsenty; and A. Rigod.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Existence and Location of Copies
The collection was digitized by the repository in 2019 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2019r1
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2019.
Carte-de-visite album of Algeria, 1870s-1880s, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2019.R.1.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2019r1
The finding aid was written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2019.
Scope and Content of Collection
The album contains 50 cartes-de-visite of Algeria and Algerians by various photographers; a two-part panorama of Algiers by
Jean Geiser made from two joined horizontal cabinet cards; and a panoramic view of Oran by A. Decugis showing the port and
military hospital, also on a horizontal cabinet card.
The Geiser panorama of Algiers is the first image in the album, adhered to the verso of the blank page preceding the carte-de-visite
mounts. The first part of the album is devoted to views of Algiers, Blida, and Oran, while the remaining images are studio
portraits of Algerian "types." The larger view of Oran is the final image in the album.
Rather than being inserted in their slots back-to-back, the cartes-de-visite are arranged in the album so that their versos
are showing. The makers of the bulk of the photographs are not identified by imprints on their versos, and any imprints on
their rectos are covered by the album mounts. In addition to Geiser and Decugis, photographers known to be represented in
the album include Alexandre Leroux; L. Cairol; Elie Karsenty; and A. Rigod.
The album has bossed brown calf covers with floral and geometric designs.
Ink annotations are written in French on the versos of 33 of the cartes-de-visite, and on the rectos of the panoramas of Algiers
and Oran.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Algerians -- Portraits
Algiers (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Blida (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Oran (Algeria) -- Description and travel
Albumen prints -- Algeria -- 19th century
Cabinet cards -- Algeria -- 19th century
Cartes-de-visite -- Algeria -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- Algeria -- 19th century
Photographs, Original
Cairol, L.
Geiser, Jean, 1848-1923
Decugis, A.
Karsenty, Elie
Rigod, A.