Emile Bechard - Egypte et Nubie 1887 - 1887
Émile Béchard worked in Cairo from 1869 to 1873, associated with Hippolyte Délié in his studio located at Mousky street, in the district of Ezbekiya. Later on, he continued living in Cairo, till 1880 (or 1890?). His brother, Hippolyte, born on April 17, 1841 and settled in La Grand-Combe (Gard, France) circulated in France his photographs of Egypt, and then signed them with his name. The initial in the signature (‘H.Béchard’) is therefore often misinterpreted as ‘Henri”, but it was Emile who took the photographs.
NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS OF EGYPT AND THE MIDDLE EAST
The library possesses almost 5,000 photographic prints produced by commercial photographers in the nineteenth and early 20th century. While the greatest number of images document Egypt, the entire Middle East and other parts of the world are covered as well. The prints depict pharaonic and other ancient ruins and artifacts, as well as Islamic monuments. Contemporary urban and rural scenes are also shown, as are portraits of local inhabitants. Among the commercial photographers, mostly European, whose work is present are Felice Beato, Emile Béchard, G. Lekegian, Sebah, Bechard, and Abdallah Freres. The prints, which were largely sold as tourist souvenirs, are loose or pasted into albums. Approximately 800 of these commercial prints belong to the K.A.C. Creswell Collection of Photographs of Islamic Architecture, acquired by Creswell to supplement his own photographs.
The library also holds a number of books featuring photographs of Egypt and the region. Notable examples are Francis Frith's 1857 Egypt and Palestine and M. Béchard's L'Egypte et La Nubie (1887). Digital images for some of the library's holdings in these areas, such as an album on the 1882 Bombardment of Alexandria, are available in the Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library.
Glass slides along with the taxiphote device used to view them in three dimensions are also available, depicting scenes from Cairo in the first two decades of the 20th century, with images of the Revolution of 1919, the first air show in Heliopolis, Sufi mawlids, and of major downtown public events. Another visual resource is a collection of several dozen stereograph cards dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Produced mostly by the firm of Underwood & Underwood, these cards feature similar scenes to the library's postcard collection. Related materials include a set of photographic proofs used to produce such cards, James Henry Breasted's 1905 narrative accompaniment Egypt Through the Stereoscope: A Journey Through the Land of the Pharaohs, and a stereoscope for viewing.
