a group of 66 salt prints from calotype negatives from Egypt, Nubia, Palestine and Syria (London: E. Gambart & Co., Publishers 1852), each mounted, letterpress photographer's, publisher's, and printer's credits, title, annotation, and plate number on the mount, 1849-51; together with 52 letterpress tissue interleaves, 13 front and 12 rear letterpress wrappers, numbered in ink or pencil and with plate numbers in ink. Folio, morocco-backed modern black clamshell box

A detailed report for each of the 66 plates is beyond the scope of this condition report; those wishing condition reports on specific photographs are welcome to contact the Photographs Department. The condition of these photographs is generally excellent. The salt prints retain a crisp level of detail with strong darks and nuanced midtones. Only a very small number of the prints show signs of very slight fading, which is generally confined to the edges of the image. Some of the photographs are slightly unevenly trimmed (this is original to when they were made) and/or are ever-so-slightly lifting from their mounts. Some of the mounts are faintly age-darkened, mostly along the edges. There is occasional minor soiling on the mounts and wear to the edges. The letterpress wrappers and tissue interleaves are generally well preserved. They exhibit wear consistent with use and age such as: soiling and fingerprints; losses to the edges; tears; creases; and very occasionally some rust-colored deposits. The front and reverse of a few of the wrappers are detached or detaching. The wrappers included in this lot are: Parts 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 (only the front of the wrapper), and 21. The plates included in this lot are as follows: 5 - Le Kaire - Mosquée De Sultan-Haçan 6 - Le Kaire - Mosquée Et Tombeau Des Ayoubites 7 - Le Kaire - Mosquée De Sultan Kansou-El-Gouri 8 - Le Kaire - Tombeau De Sultans Mamelouks 10 - Égypte Moyenne - Pyramide De Chéphren 11 - Égypte Moyenne - Le Sphinx 12 - Haute Égypte - Nécropole De Lycopolis 14 - Haute Égypte - Girgeh - Vue Générale 15 - Haute Égypte - Mosquée D' Ali Bey 18 - Haute Égypte - Grand Temple De Denderah Façade Postérieure 19 - Haute Égypte - Grand Temple De Denderah Sculptures De La Façade Postérieure 20 - Haute Égypte - Grand Temple De Denderah, Sculptures De La Façade Postérieure 21 - Haute Égypte - Village De Hamameh 24 - Thèbes - Louqsor Vue Générale Des Ruines 25 - Thèbes - Louqsor Grande Colonnade Du Palais 36 - Thèbes - Palais De Karnak Grand Pylone Du S-O 41 - Thèbes - Palais De Karnak Sculptures Extérieures Du Sanctuaire De Granit 43 - Thèbes - Palais De Karnak Sanctuaire De Granit Et Salle Hypostyle 44 - Thèbes - Palais De Karnak Les Obélisques 45 - Thèbes - Palais De Karnak Promenoir De Tôthmès III – 2-1/2-inch tear in the upper left quadrant which may have occurred during mounting is it is fully mouted back together 46 - Thèbes - Médinet Habou Vue Générale Des Ruines 48 - Thèbes - Médinet Habou Façade Orientale Du Gynécée De Ramsès Méiamoun 49 - Thèbes - Médinet Habou Façade Septentrionale Du Gynécée De Ramsès Méiamoun 50 - Thèbes - Médinet Habou Péristyle Du Palais De Ramsès Méiamoun 54 - Thèbes - Gournah Les Colosses 55 - Thèbes - Gournah Statue De Memnon 57 - Thèbes - Gournah Sculptures Du Trône Des Collosses 60 - Thèbes - Gournah Nécropole De Thèbes 61 - Thèbes - Gournah Palais De Menephta 1er 63 - Haute Égypte - Temple D' Hermontis 64 - Haute Égypte - Vue Générale D' Esneh 66 - Haute Égypte - Entrée De La Première Cataracte 67 - Haute Égypte - Sortie De La Première Cataracte 68 - Nubie - Philoe Vue Générale Prise A L'ouest 69 - Nubie - Philoe Vue Générale Prise A L'angle S.O. 72 - Nubie - Grand Temple D'isis A Philoe - Dromos Et Pylonés 74 - Nubie - Grand Temple D'isis A Philoe - Second Pyloné – minor loss to the lower left corner 75 - Nubie - Grand Temple D'isis, A Philoe - Proscynéma 80 - Nubie - Grand Temple D'isis A Philoe - Vue Générale 81 - Nubie - Village Et Temple De L'ile De Béghé 82 - Nubie - Rive Orientale Du Nil 83 - Nubie - Mosquée De Bellal 84 - Nubie - Rive Septentrionale Du Nil 86 - Nubie - Temple De Debôd 88 - Nubie - Temple De Tafah 91 - Nubie - Kalabscheh - Ptolémée-Caesarion 93 - Nubie - Temple De Dandour 95 - Nubie - Temple De Dakkeh - Naos 96 - Nubie - Temple De Maharakkah 97 - Nubie - Hémi-Spéos De Séboua - Dromos 98 - Nubie - Hémi-Speos De Seboua - Pylones 99 - Nubie - Temple D'amada 102 - Nubie - Ibsamboul - Vue Générale Du Speos De Phrè 103 - Nubie - Ibsamboul - Colosse Oriental Du Spéos De Phrè 104 - Nubie - Ibsamboul - Colosse Oriental Du Spéos De Phrè 105 - Nubie - Ibsamboul - Sculptures De L'entrée Du Speos De Phrè 109 - Nubie - Ibsamboul - Entrée Du Spéos D'hathor 110 - Nubie - Ibsamboul - Partie Méridionale Du Spéos D'hathor 112 - Nubie - Seconde Cataracte Dgebel - Aboucir 114 - Palestine - Jérusalem - Quartier Occidental 115 - Palestine - Jérusalem - Arcades Inférieures De L'église Du Saint-Sépulcre 118 - Palestine - Jérusalem - Porte Dorée 119 - Syrie - Baalbeck - Intérieur De L'enceinte Des Temples Du Soleil Et De Jupiter 121 - Syrie - Baalbeck - Colonnade Du Temple Du Soleil 122 - Syrie - Temple De Jupiter, A Baalbeck – Vue Prise a l'Angle S.E. 123 - Syrie - Temple De Jupiter A Baalbeck - Façade Orientale
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In November 1849, Maxime Du Camp set out for Egypt with novelist and friend Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). Each longed to explore the Near East and they secured government commissions to fulfill their ambitions – Du Camp was to photograph archeological sites and study their history, and Flaubert was to gather information on the commerce, agriculture, and industries of the places they would visit. Du Camp, a writer and journalist, had only just been trained in photography by 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 with it. Fortunately, he met Baron Alexis de La Grange in Cairo who taught him Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard’s new wet paper negative process, which would allow him to flourish as a photographer during the course of his journey. Du Camp took over 200 images of about 60 different monuments and sites. Of those, 125 were selected to make Égypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie: dessins photographiques recueillis pendant les années 1849, 1850 et 1851, published in 1852 by Gide et J. Baudry in Paris and with all photographs printed at Blanquart-Évrard’s Imprimerie Photographique in Lille. Égypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie 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 as those in Du Camp’s volume, which retain magnificent contrast and detail to this day. Du Camp’s book was sold by subscription in 25 periodic deliveries, each containing 5 plates, tissue interleaves with letterpress plate number and description, and a wrapper with letterpress colophon and full plate list. The non-sequential handwritten numbering on each wrapper in the present lot is due to deliberate delivery of the plates out of order by the publisher, a common tactic to sustain the interest of the subscribers. The total number of complete sets distributed at the time of the volume’s publication is not known, but based on the sum of a payment made to Du Camp at the time, and the rarity of groups of any size today, it likely that no more than 200 copies were printed.

The present lot includes an impressive 66 of the 125 photographs, 52 of the delicate rarely preserved tissue interleaves, and 13 wrappers. It is interesting to note that the wrapper text here is in English and not in French, as is most commonly seen in surviving examples, and bears the name of London publishers E. Gambart & Co.  These English wrappers from publishers E. Gambart & Co reveal that Du Camp’s volume was distributed outside of France, but the details of the contract between Gambart and the French publishers are not known. The English-text wrappers are scarce and only two sets could be found in institutional collections: the George Eastman House in Rochester has a set of 72 plates with English wrappers, and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin, has 32 plates with English wrappers. Most of the other known sets, while also rare, bear the French text. Large groups of photographs from Égypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie seldom appear at auction, and at the time of this writing it is thought to be that only one of those groups included the English text.

Du Camp’s volume was wildly popular in the 19^th century – the French government alone subscribed to 20 copies – and it earned him the prestigious title of Officer of the Legion of Honor. In spite of its exceedingly positive reception, 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 large quantities of fine wool and silk embroidered with gold so that the two friends could commission fine upholstered furniture when they returned home. Égypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie remains Du Camp’s first and last foray into photography.