![ROYAL AIR FORCE, IRAQ. [Photograph albums. c.1920s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0227_001(royal_air_force_iraq_photograph_albums_c1920s035333).jpg?w=1)
![ROYAL AIR FORCE, IRAQ. [Photograph albums. c.1920s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0227_002(royal_air_force_iraq_photograph_albums_c1920s035408).jpg?w=1)
![ROYAL AIR FORCE, IRAQ. [Photograph albums. c.1920s].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0227_000(royal_air_force_iraq_photograph_albums_c1920s035320).jpg?w=1)
Details
ROYAL AIR FORCE, IRAQ. [Photograph albums. c.1920s].
Two albums with photographs of Iraq and India of a British serviceman in the RAF, probably stationed in Basra during the 1920s. The images show RAF vehicles, armoured cars and aircraft, including a DH9A bomber with an Asian swastika – a symbol for good luck – on the nose of the fuselage. The photographer evidently travelled from Basra up the Tigris to Baghdad and northwards, with river scenes and shots of monuments and city scenes, including such landmarks as the Blue Mosque in Baghdad and the ancient Ctesiphon Arch. There are a number of interesting images of Iraqi street scenes, groups of locals, housing, one of the Iraq Levee Guard, and one of the now-destroyed British war cemetery in Basra. Photographs of India are taken on a trip from the Port of Karachi (now Pakistan) to the northern country borders in Punjab, Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. The owner and photographer of the album is captured on several images, four of which are taken at the ‘stores depot’ in Basra where he was likely based.
2 albums, oblong quarto, thus: 1. 117 original photographs (58 x 82mm), mounted on 16 leaves (170 x 212mm). Original cloth (joints split at head of spine, 1 photograph torn); 2. 79 original photographs (69 x 109mm), mounted on 11 leaves (164 x 248mm). Original faux-half-leather cloth (extremities rubbed).
Two albums with photographs of Iraq and India of a British serviceman in the RAF, probably stationed in Basra during the 1920s. The images show RAF vehicles, armoured cars and aircraft, including a DH9A bomber with an Asian swastika – a symbol for good luck – on the nose of the fuselage. The photographer evidently travelled from Basra up the Tigris to Baghdad and northwards, with river scenes and shots of monuments and city scenes, including such landmarks as the Blue Mosque in Baghdad and the ancient Ctesiphon Arch. There are a number of interesting images of Iraqi street scenes, groups of locals, housing, one of the Iraq Levee Guard, and one of the now-destroyed British war cemetery in Basra. Photographs of India are taken on a trip from the Port of Karachi (now Pakistan) to the northern country borders in Punjab, Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. The owner and photographer of the album is captured on several images, four of which are taken at the ‘stores depot’ in Basra where he was likely based.
2 albums, oblong quarto, thus: 1. 117 original photographs (58 x 82mm), mounted on 16 leaves (170 x 212mm). Original cloth (joints split at head of spine, 1 photograph torn); 2. 79 original photographs (69 x 109mm), mounted on 11 leaves (164 x 248mm). Original faux-half-leather cloth (extremities rubbed).
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Emily Pilling