Photography Objects > Early Photographic Prints

Valley of Jehoshaphat, General View by Felix Bonfils ca. 1870

Item#: CPE280

SOLD

 

Vallee de Josaphat, vue generale.--Valley of Jehoshaphat, general view by F?lix Bonfils ca. 1870. This is an original vintage Albumen print on a thin sheet of paper with sepia color and slightly glossy surface, signed in the negative (within a red circle). Showing on the right is the Hellenistic monument called ‘Absalom Tomb’ and on left the ‘Mount of Olives’ with the main carriage and mule path (road?) from Jerusalem to Jericho. Size: 28 X 22 cm (11 x 8.5 inches). This photograph is documented in the list of Felix Bonfils Photographs ("Die Provincia Arabia"), in the Department of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, Box 6, File 15, and Photograph No. 290. (http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/aids/msslist/maindex.htm). The prolific photographer F?lix Bonfils was born on 8 March 1831 in France. In 1867 he moved to Beirut with his wife Lydie (b. 1837), and son Adrien (b. 1861) and set up a photographic studio. Bonfils published many albums focusing on specific regions or themes from various sites along the eastern Mediterranean. Bonfils died in 1885.