du Camp, Maxime | First edition of a pioneering photobook on Egypt, Palestine, and Syria

du Camp, Maxime

Égypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie. Dessins Photographiques recueillis pendant les années 1849, 1850 et 1851. Paris: par J. Claye et Cie. [for] Gide et J. Baudry, 1852

Folio (435 x 295 mm). Half-title present, 125 salted prints (each approximately 165 x 220 mm, or the reverse) printed by Blanquart-Evrard, being 112 views of Egypt, 6 of Jerusalem, and 7 of Baalbek, each individually mounted on card with engraved title, number, and imprint, and 3 engraved plans, one of which double-page, and 55 pages of text; mounts spotted as often, occasional fainter spotting to prints. Modern half red morocco; minor rubbing to extremities.

First edition of Du Camp's pioneering photobook on Egypt, Palestine and Syria.

“Photography absorbs and consumes Max’s days…” (Flaubert)

In November 1849 Maxime Du Camp, the twenty-seven year old son of a successful surgeon, set out for Egypt with his friend, Gustave Flaubert. Each longed to explore the Near East and had secured government commissions to fulfil their ambitions. Du Camp was to photograph and study archaeological sites while Flaubert was to gather information on the local commerce, agriculture, and industries. Du Camp had experience documenting ruins on past journeys, but found their documentation by sketching frustrating—it took too long to be precise and his drawing skills were lacking. So, he turned to the new invention of photography as a more accurate method. He trained in photography with Gustave Le Gray, who taught him the waxed paper negative process; this method proved challenging for the novice and he did not have much success. Fortunately, he met Baron Alexis de La Grange in Cairo who taught him Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard’s improved process, which helped given the arduous circumstances. The task of photographing in the desert was a difficult one, especially for an amateur, requiring distilled water and a dark room to fix the chemicals. The transport of the necessary equipment was by mule, camel or a legion of local porters. “Photography absorbs and consumes Max’s days. He succeeds but gets upset every time he ruins a proof or a plate is badly wiped... I don't know how Max doesn’t kill himself with the photographic mania he has” (Flaubert in a letter to his mother, sent from Cairo).

Du Camp persevered and captured 214 negatives of 60 different monuments and sites. Of those, 125 were selected to be published resulting in the present work, which was the first French book to be illustrated entirely with photographs and was Blanquart-Évrard’s biggest commercial success.

Its precedents were William Henry Fox Talbot’s The Pencil of Nature in England and a few less significant brochures in France. The photographs that illustrate those publications have not survived as well the examples in Du Camp’s volume, which retain good contrast and detail. Sold by subscription in 25 parts, each containing 5 plates, the total number of complete sets distributed is unknown, but based on a payment made to Du Camp at the time and its present rarity, it likely that no more than 200 copies were printed.

The work earned Du Camp the prestigious award of Officer of the Legion of Honour. Despite of the positive reception his photographs received, Du Camp never photographed again. When Du Camp and Flaubert arrived in Beirut at the end of their voyage, the former exchanged all of his photographic equipment for fine wool and silk embroidered with gold so that the two could commission upholstered furniture when they returned home. It remains Du Camp’s first and last foray into photography.

REFERENCES:

Parr and Badger, The Photobook: A History (2004), I: 23