Collection of Photographs – Western Wall – Bonfils, Zangaki Brothers, American Colony, and Others

Some 35 early photographs of Jews praying at the Western Wall, [middle to late 19th century].

Photographs in large format, most of them signed and titled in the negative, taken by the earliest of Jerusalem’s photographers, including: • Photo of the Western Wall by Bonfils (eight copies); • photo of women at the Western Wall by Bonfils (thirteen copies); • photo of the Western Wall by the Zangaki Brothers (four copies); • small photo by Wilhelm Hammerschmidt; • color photo published by Photochrom Zürich (stamped "P.Z." in the margin); • three different photos by American Colony photographers, one of them in color (stamped "Hand coloured, American Colony " on back); • photo-reproduction of a painting of the Western Wall by Carl Friedrich Heinrich Werner; • and more.

Most of the photos are mounted onto plates of thick paper; additional photos are mounted onto the backs of five of these plates, most of them featuring other sites in Jerusalem. A handful of photos date from the British Mandate period, including one news journal photo of the Western Wall following the 1929 Palestine riots.

Varying sizes and condition (most photos in large format). Overall good to good-fair condition.