Port Said, The Queen Victoria Monument

There's no way in hell that I'm going to try and make out what's on the back of this card, so I'm breaking protocol and posting it.  Besides, I like the Arabic lettering. .

This is the last of my Egyptian postcards, at least until I find some more. This one was published by Lichtenstern & Harari.  Joseph Max Lichtenstern was an Austrian photographer who moved from Vienna to Cairo in 1893.  Starting in 1899, he began publishing postcards of his photographs as The Cairo Postcard Trust.  Two years latter, in 1901, he partnered with David Harari.  They expanded into general publishing and also import and export.  In 1912, the partnership dissolved after Harari decided to move on.  The company was sold to Max Rudman. Lichtenstern stayed on in Cairo.  He returned to Austria for a vacation in 1914, was trapped in the country by World War 1, and served in the Austro-Hungarian Army for the duration.

Just a quick, and vastly simplified, historical note.  In the mid nineteenth century, Egypt was part of the Ottoman Empire.  After the construction of the Suez Canal, the British more or less manufactured an incident (And this is the simplified part.  There are a a lot of very good books out there for people who wish to follow up.  And no, Wikipedia isn't a good source.)  that allowed them to seize Egypt and control the canal.  When the Ottomans tried to take it back in World War 1, the British allied themselves with the Arab revolt. Lawrence of Arabia, anyone?  After the war, they betrayed their Arab allies by making a secret deal with the French, The Sykes Picot Agreement,  that divided Arab lands from the Mediterranean to modern day Iraq between them.  So no, Virginia, it's less about religion and more about the legacy of imperialism.  The gift that keeps on giving.

Tombs of the Kalifs

Or tombs of the Caliphs if you prefer.

  Anyway, this one was actually sent to someone, "Mrs A. B. Hildritt, 400 West 10 Street, Newton, Kansas, U.S.A."  And the message, "March 8th 1908.  My dear Mis Hildritt.  This mosque of Amr owes its name to the general of the Caliph Amar.  There mosques & tombs were once provided mitt numerous staff of sheikhs.  during certain festivals reletives of the deceased visit & pray for there souls.  M. Walkentin"

I have used the spelling and punctuation found on the card.  Note mitt for with, so probably the sender was originally from Germany.  Fun fact, go on to a movie set, and if the director wants to film something without sound, he or she will say it's MOS.  German film makers working during the early sound era in Hollywood would say "Mitt out sound," which became MOS.  

The Market Near the Citadel

Yesterday's post was of The Blue Mosque, seen on the right of this postcard.  On the left, The Citadel of Saladin, or if you prefer the correct version, Salah al-Din.  Anyway, he built the citadel to defend Cairo from the crusaders.  Started in 1176, finished in 1183.  He also started a wall meant to surround Cairo, but it took to 1238 to finish that bit of fortification.  For anyone interested, I just posted a painting by Louis Comfort Tiffany, (Yes, the stained glass guy.) of The Citadel on my Fair Use blog.

Credited to "The Cairo Postcard Trust," this card was never used.

The Blue Mosque

Actually, there is more than one Blue Mosque.  The one in Cairo is also known as The Aqsungur Mosque, named for it's builder, Emir ad-Din Aqsunqur.  It was built in 1347, around the mausoleum of Sultan al-Ashraf Kujuk.  It was restored in 1652, when blue and green tiles were added to it's exterior.  In 1908, the Comite de Conservation des Monuments de art Arabe, obviously a French arts organization, did another restoration on the building.  And finally, in 1992, after an earthquake, there was yet another restoration.  And at 670 years old, I think we can expect a few more rebuilds.

For the record, the design is an open courtyard, surrounded by four arcades.  It has five doemes and a minaret.  And that tower in the background is The Citadel of Saladin.

This card was sent to "Mrs. R.M. Dennis, P.O. Box 183, Coscob, Conn USA."  And the message, "Cairo, Have Gotten this far around the world.  Regards."

The Lucky Crocodile

Not very lucky, considering he's dead, stuffed, and mounted on a wall.  This is another one from the studio of Lehnert & Landrock, so navigate back one post for some biographical info on the pair.  This card was used, and the message is, "Hello all.  Hope you & Pop are still well. Joe"  Mailed to "Mr. Al Sweede, 168 West 98th St., New York City, U.S.A."  Hey, when it's New York City, you don't need the state.  The postmark is smeared, so no date.

The Statue of Ramses

Yet another unused card, credited to "Lehnert & Landrock, Cairo"  I've actually been able to find some info on this pair.  Rudolf Franz Lehnart and Ernst Heinrich Landrock were a pair of Austrian born photographers who met each other in Switzerland in 1904.  The two formed a partnership in Tunis, where Landrock had taken a series of photographs, which lasted until 1914, when they were interred by the French as enemy aliens, at the beginning of World War 1.   Their large collection of glass plate negatives were also seized.

They didn't meet up again  until 1920.  With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary,  Landrock found himself a citizen of the new nation of Czechoslovakia, an ally of France, which allowed him to get the partner's negatives returned to him.  Lehnert had returned to Tunis where he photographed nudes for Jouret Studio.  They formed a new partnership, in Cairo,in 1924, where they published postcards from their photographs.  Lehnert sold out his half of the business to Landrock in 1930.  In 1939, fearing another internment, Landrock left for Germany.  He left the business under the management of his Swiss born nephew, Kurk Lambelit.  It's believed that the majority of the negatives from the partnership was destroyed by allied bombing, in Germany, during World War 2.

  Lehnert & Landrock is still in business, in Cairo, as a publisher of guide books.

The Ambulant Barber

Yet another unused postcard from Egypt, credited to "B. LIVADAS & COUTSICOS-CAIRO."  I couldn't find anything about these photographers,on line,  but was able to find plenty of examples of their work, including this one, which is part of the collection from The Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  It's listed as a collotype, date unknown.  And once again, blogger doesn't recognize an archaic photographic process as a real word.

Shadoofs

It didn't take long to figure out that chadoufs is French for shadoofs, which is a phonetic spelling from the Arabic.  A shadoof is the mechanism pictured, not the people.  Basically it's a wooden stand, a rope, and a bucket that's used to move water from one place to another for irrigation.  This card was never sent and was published by "The Cairo Postcard Trust-Cairo."

Egypt via France

I've been picking up Egyptian postcards for a few years now, and I think it's about time to start posting them.  I'm breaking my usual practice of not publishing the backs of cards because I like the Arabic script, and because I'm too tired to try and decipher the hand writing.  And yes, it is Egypt.  Le Caire means Cairo.

Views of the World, Rock Temple at Abu Simbel, Egypt

The  temples at Abu Simbel were carved along the upper Nile, in the province of Nubia, during the rein of Ramses the Great.  It took around 24 years and is thought to have been finished around 1265 B.C.   Eventually, it would disappear, buried by blowing desert sand.  It was rediscovered during an 1813 expedition led by Swiss Orientalist, Jean-Louis Burkhardt.  With the construction of the Asswan High Dam, the temples at Abu Simbel were in danger of being lost under the waters of Lake Nasser.  An international team of engineers disassembled the temples, and reassembled them under  artificial hills.  Work was finished in 1968.

I'll be leaving these cards for the next month or so.  Click on Views of the World in labels to see more cards from the series.

Views of the World, Boats on the Nile, Egypt

Just for the hell of it, I thought I'd scan one of this series in grey scale.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

In Old Egypt

This one's a real photo postcard.  The back has a standard Kodak manufactured K Ltd. stamp block, with no other identifying marks that would, more often than not, be present on a card published for mass sale.  So I'm fairly confident that this card was printed up for one of the people in the photo.  But which one, and why were they in Egypt?  Standard issue tourists, seeing the wonders of the world?  Or were they part of the American religious community that has always headed to the middle east to see sights from the Bible?  I found this one in an antique store that I visit from time to time.  If I get lucky, I'll find another one of these cards with something written on the back.  If these people are all headed off to the casinos of Monte Carlo or a French bar, we'll know they were out for a good time.  But if Egypt was followed by Bethlehem and Jerusalem, then we have a church group.  I'd prefer it if these people were tourists out to have a good time, but my gut tells me, church people.

Washerwomen In Stereo

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Printed on the back of the card, "50-(W8668) WASHERWOMEN ALONG THE NILE, EGYPT

These women are doing the family washing in the Nile. It is easier to come down to the river and do their washing than to carry the water to their homes. Then they see the other women and have a visit. Here, again, we see the beautiful Nile boats. Copyright by Keystone View Company" In 1892, Benneville Lloyd Singley, former salesman for Underwood & Underwood, one of the largest stereoview manufacturers of the day, set up his camera and took photographs of the flooding of French Creek in Pennsylvania. He mounted them on cards sold them, and began his own stereoview company. Three years latter, with 700 images in his catalog, he incorporated The Keystone View Company in Meadville, PA. Between 1915 and 1921, Keystone, became the most successful stereoview company in the world, not just by expanding it's own collection of images, but by buying out most of it's major competitors. By 1935, Keystone had over 2,000,000 views on file. (Note, I've been unable to determine whether the 2 million figure represents the number of negatives owned, or the number of views offered for sale.) While Keystone offered many novelty images, Singley, correctly, believed that the real success of the stereoview lay in offering images of the world, which would never been seen, in person, by his customers. While Keystone did all of it's manufacturing at it's Meadville headquarters, it would open offices in New York, Chicago, and London. It would also keep photographers on staff all over the world, not only photographing physical and cultural geographic images, but historical events. Singley also began a division in his company to produce glass "magic lantern" slides. He also made stereoview viewers and slide projectors. He aggressively marketed his products to schools. (I was born in 1955, started first grade in 1960, and my first grade teacher still used stereoviews to teach geography.) Singley retired in 1936, and sold all stock in his company to two employees, Charles Krandall, and George Hamilton. Keystone, under the new partner's leadership, continued to increase it's collection of images as well as starting a division to manufacture eye testing equipment. In 1963, Keystone was purchased by Mast Development Company of Davenport, Iowa. Mast continued with the manufacturing of eye testing equipment, eventually shutting down the Meadville offices and plant. In 1978, three tons of negatives and company records were donated to the University of California Riverside. The negatives are housed at the California state Photography Museum in Riverside.