Saudi Arabia by the First Photographers Hardcover – February 8, 2001

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This is an important, unique collection of the earliest photographs taken on the Arabian Peninsula. It includes the earliest known photograph, taken of the city of Madinah, in 1861, by Colonel Muhammad Sadiq of the Egyptian Army. The photos are grouped by geographical sections of the country, and are preceded by two introductory chapters written by William Facey and Gillian Grant (with some duplication in subject matter). They cover both the development of photography itself, as well as those who utilized it in the Peninsula. There is the Islamic prohibition against "graven images," but based on the numerous photographs of people, clearly a lot did not object (as is equally true today). It was reported that Gertrude Bell, during her stay at Hail, was given full liberty to take any photographs she wanted.As mentioned in the introduction, numerous photos are of the "snapshot" variety, lacking proper composition; the result usually of the early circumstances in which they were taken, and this does detract from the overall collection. Still, I found many others worthwhile. In particular, there were the "general views" of cities like Madinah (p 35), Buraydah (p68), Marat (72-73), Dumat al-Jandal (p88-89), and even an aerial view of the Hasa oasis, taken by Aramco in the `50's (p100). Equally impressive is the Hijaz railroad (p40), Bait Baghdadi, Aramco's first office in Jeddah (p51), a baby camel traveling in a "camel bag" (p 83), gazelles and cheetahs killed during the hunt (p84-85), the Ruwala tribe on the move (p86-87)In my opinion there is little doubt that the finest photographer in the collection was Wilfred Thesiger. There is one of his crossing of the Empty Quarter in 1948 (p104), but there are numerous ones of his travels in the Asir and the Tihamah, in 1947, that I had not seen before. Particularly impressive are the brushwood houses of the Tihamah, which recall his photography of the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, many years later.Overall, a worthwhile collection, and hopefully you can purchase it for somewhat less than the secondary sellers are currently offering it for. Another reason for a re-print?

Fascinating, but wish there were even MORE photos