Resources from Asia Minor are dominated by the collection of the French businessman, Pierre de Gigord, comprising over 6,000 photographs made during the last decades of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic of Turkey. Comprising panoramas, albums, stereographs, and press photographs, it covers Constantinople (Istanbul), and other regions within the Empire such as the Balkans and cities such as Bursa and Smyrna (Izmir). Represented are over 165 named photographers and studios, both European and domestic, and the work of dozens of unknown photographers. Prominent photographers of eastern origin include the ethnic Armenian Abdullah brothers, Pascal Sébah, of Armenian and Syrian descent, and Ali Sami Aközer, grandson of Halil Kamil Pasha. The collection holds some of the earliest photographs from the region, including twelve joined panoramas of Istanbul.
Beyond the Pierre de Gigord collection, the library includes a published portfolio of early photolithographs by Pierre Trémaux titled Exploration archéologique en Asie Mineure (1859-1863), representing an illustrated survey of the monuments of the Ottoman Empire. The plates are reproduced using the Poitevin process, and were most likely made after Trémaux's photographs from an 1853-1854 expedition. They depict some thirty ancient cities in Turkey, as well as images of Islamic monuments found along the routes of Christian pilgrimage; many show ancient sites before excavation or subsequent damage. Another GRI resource is a copy of Georges Perrot’s illustrated account of a later 1861 expedition to Turkey titled Exploration archéologique de la Galatie et de la Bithynie (1862-1872), illustrated with photolithographs by Jules Delbet. A more rigorously scientific publication, the volume formed the foundation of archaeological enquiry in Asia Minor.
From the late 1840s, Istanbul became an important center for photography, attracting a host of western artists and photographers including (among those represented in the GRI collections) Félix Bonfils, Claude-Marie Ferrier, Frank Mason Good, Gustave Le Gray, James Robertson, and the Baghdad-born photographer of Austro-Hungarian parentage, Alexander Svoboda. In relation to the city’s thriving network of studios, photographs by Pascal Sébah who opened his studio in Istanbul in 1857, catered to a thriving tourist market. In addition to panoramas, he compiled albums titled “People of the Ottoman Empire” and published his well-known book, Les costumes populaires de la Turquie en 1873, illustrated with photolithographs.
Image: Abdullah Frères (Turkish Studio, 1858-1899). l’Hippodrome et l’Obélisque. 1865-1880. Albumen print. Getty Research Institute, 96.R.114.