Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai.
Southampton: Ordnance Survey Office, 1869.
Price:
$65,000.00
McDonald, Sgt. James. First edition. Four mounted photographs on the titles of the text and photograph vols., 20 lithographed or tinted lithographs plates, 10 folding maps mounted on linen as issued, 153 mounted albumen photographs on 142 sheets (including 4 folding triptychs and 3 diptychs). Folio. Publisher's half morocco and cloth boards, worn at joints, some losses to the spine of the atlas volume, marbled endpapers. Internally quite clean with dark unfaded images. Library blindstamps in the margins of each plate. Gernsheim 486.
Item #371544
"In 1868, a larger and more complex survey, again supported by private subscription, was organized to map the Sinai Peninsula. Although the size and complexity of the proposed survey were considered beyond the financial capabilities of the fledgling Palestine Exploration Fund, the survey, for which Wilson shared command with Captain H. S. Palmer was conceived in the spirit of scientific inquiry inspired by the success of the Jerusalem Survey and advocated by the Fund 'to apply the rules of science, which are so well understood by us in other branches, to an investigation into the facts concerning the Holy Land'" (Schwartz and Ryan, Picturing Place, p. 234).
Gernsheim in The History of Photography mentions McDonald in passing, though with high praise, comparing him favorably with both Francis Frith and Maxime Du Camp: "The temples, tombs and pyramids of Egypt attracted numerous photographers and resulted in a mass of French and English publications, none equalling Frith's high standards, with the possible exception of the 150 [i.e. 153] whole-plate photographs taken by Sergeant J. McDonald which illustrate the three volumes of The Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai (1869)" (p. 287). McDonald (1822-1885) served as the survey's principal photographer and his images comprise well-composed landscapes, as well as ethnographic and archaeological studies. Prior to this expedition, McDonald's published work included the Ordnance Survey of Jersusalem (1865), as well as images in Views of Netley Abbey (1864). He had been introduced to photography in the mid-1850s while serving in the Royal Engineers, supervising the process and training of engineers in reducing and reproducing survey maps photographically. Upon his return to England in 1869, McDonald received a royal invitation by Queen Victoria for his photographic excellence on the Sinai expedition.
Complete sets of the work, with all volumes of photographs as well as the text and atlas of maps, are very rare on the market. The last complete set we could locate appeared at Sotheby's on June 28, 1972 (lot 597).
Item #371544
"In 1868, a larger and more complex survey, again supported by private subscription, was organized to map the Sinai Peninsula. Although the size and complexity of the proposed survey were considered beyond the financial capabilities of the fledgling Palestine Exploration Fund, the survey, for which Wilson shared command with Captain H. S. Palmer was conceived in the spirit of scientific inquiry inspired by the success of the Jerusalem Survey and advocated by the Fund 'to apply the rules of science, which are so well understood by us in other branches, to an investigation into the facts concerning the Holy Land'" (Schwartz and Ryan, Picturing Place, p. 234).
Gernsheim in The History of Photography mentions McDonald in passing, though with high praise, comparing him favorably with both Francis Frith and Maxime Du Camp: "The temples, tombs and pyramids of Egypt attracted numerous photographers and resulted in a mass of French and English publications, none equalling Frith's high standards, with the possible exception of the 150 [i.e. 153] whole-plate photographs taken by Sergeant J. McDonald which illustrate the three volumes of The Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai (1869)" (p. 287). McDonald (1822-1885) served as the survey's principal photographer and his images comprise well-composed landscapes, as well as ethnographic and archaeological studies. Prior to this expedition, McDonald's published work included the Ordnance Survey of Jersusalem (1865), as well as images in Views of Netley Abbey (1864). He had been introduced to photography in the mid-1850s while serving in the Royal Engineers, supervising the process and training of engineers in reducing and reproducing survey maps photographically. Upon his return to England in 1869, McDonald received a royal invitation by Queen Victoria for his photographic excellence on the Sinai expedition.
Complete sets of the work, with all volumes of photographs as well as the text and atlas of maps, are very rare on the market. The last complete set we could locate appeared at Sotheby's on June 28, 1972 (lot 597).
