John Burke
1878-1880
Jellalabad, The Main Street Showing Covered Bazaar

Albumen print
23.6 x 28.3 cm (image)
 
The Royal Collection
RCIN 2702094
 
Photograph of a street scene in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, with a cobbled road running in the middle, with wooden buildings on either sides, which are more substantial on the right, under which Afghans are selling goods.
 
John Burke accompanied the Peshawar Valley Field Force, one of three British Anglo-Indian army columns deployed in the Second Afghan War (1878-80), originally as an apothecary with the Royal Engineers; later he turned professional photographer, assisting William Baker. This view of the bazaar at Jalalabad (and others) are considered one of the earliest photographs in Afghanistan.
 
Photograph in album presented by the Earl of Lytton (1831-91), Viceroy of India to Queen Victoria in 1880
 
LL/93686