| Maxime Du Camp Small Speos, left section of the facade, Abu Simbel, Nubia, Southern Egypt. Gide et Baudry. [1849-51] 1849-1851 Calotype, printed by Louis-Desire Blanquart-Evrard 16 x 21 cm (6 x 8.5 ins) Roland Belgrave Vintage Photography LL/44094 Maxime du Camp began his career in photography before a planned trip to Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, and Syria, having discovered on previous travels that his time was often wasted by attempting to sketch and describe the sites he saw. He turned to Gustave Le Gray to learn photography to better document his tour. Once in Egypt, du Camp found Le Gray's teaching insufficient, and learned the Blanquart-Evrard process from Alexis de Lagrange. Travelling with his friend and fellow writer, Gustave Flaubert, the journey is well-documented, and resulted in the publication in 1852 of an album of 125 images and entitled Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie. This photograph is plate 47 from that work. Despite its success (it won him the Legion d'Honneur), du Camp never published another collection of
photographs.
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