Seven Hand-Colored Photographs of Subjects and Architecture in Jerusalem, c. 1890s-1920s

Jerusalem, 1920. Silver gelatin photographs measuring 11 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, hand colored. Some light normal wear, near fine overall, quite attractive and suitable for framing. Fine. The American Colony in Jerusalem, started by 1881 by members of a Christian utopian society led by Anna and Horatio Spafford of Chicago, developed in the next fifty years into one of the primary photographic historians of the city prior to Zionism. The Spaffords were joined by the Swedish, American, and Swedish-American Christians. They eventually moved into the former residence of Rabbah Effendi al-Husseini, who served as an official during the Ottoman era. The building is the site of the current American Colony hotel.

Collected here are seven hand-colored photographs, taken and sold during their period of prolific output. They are particularly well preserved examples, showing the group's skill for hand coloring. Little is known about the photographers themselves or their processes, and the group's history continues to be delineated by curator Rachel Lev, who has housed their archive in one of the colony's outbuildings. Original examples of the group's work are not terribly common on the market despite their important role in documenting the region during this period.