Bonfils – Portfolio of Photographs of the Holy Land, from the "Oriental Collection" Series – Late 19th Century

Portfolio of collotype prints, published by the Bonfils family. Bonfils & Cie studio, [presumably Beirut, ca. 1885].

Photographs of the Holy Land (collotypes), most after Félix Bonfils. In original portfolio, with chromolithographic illustration on front cover. Among the sites depicted: Jerusalem (general view of the city, Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, Damascus Gate, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and more), Bethlehem, Tiberias, Hebron, Jaffa, the Dead Sea and Nablus.

Each photograph is mounted on a cardboard plate, within a red printed border. Beneath the photograph, on the mount, appear the series title ("Oriental Collection"), publisher's name ("Bonfils & Cie"), the name of the depicted site, and a biblical verse relating to it (in English).

A French edition of the album was issued in 1885, apparently at the initiative of Adrien Bonfils. The album formed part of a photographic series of the Orient, intended for a Protestant Christian audience.

See: Alain Arnaudiès, L'Orient des Bonfils, 1867-1918, Paris: Soleb, 2022, pp. 36-39.