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Portrays the Ottoman Empire during the reign of one of its last sultans, Abdul-Hamid II. The 1,819 photographs in 51 large-format albums date from about 1880 to 1893.
Provides access to "over 500,000 photographic objects and documents from and related to the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab diaspora has been gradually assembled over the last 20 years by artists and researchers and through donations."
The collection include classics of illustrated travel and regional archaeology, as well as the NYPL's earliest works of photography in the Middle East region.
Most of the images included in the archive are published and unpublished images from the bimonthly magazine Aramco World, from 1964 to 2000, and Saudi Aramco World, to the present.
The publication makes valuable maps available which were previously unknown or inaccessible. It begins in 1817 with the first ever mention of Muharraq City on a map and finishes in 1970 with the last maps made before independence.
The first complete survey of the Gulf coast, carried out by the Bombay Marine in the 1920s. It includes contemporary textual descriptions, maritime charts, harbor maps and hand painted water-color coastal views.