Maxime Du Camp

Maxime Du Camp Photography

“Du Camp, a wealthy dilettante interested in literary matters, conceived the idea that a trip to the Middle East would be a splendid diversion for himself and a friend. He learned caltotyping from Gustave Le Gray and in 1849 persuaded the French Ministry of Education to send him on a photographic tour of archeological sites, accompanied by the novelist Gustave Flaubert. On their twenty-one-month tour, Du Camp made 220 calotypes, 125 of which were printed by Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard and published as Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie, the first book about the Middle East illustrated with actual photographs. After his return, Du Camp gave up photography and devoted his time to writing."¹

¹From Lee D. Witkin, and Barbara London, "Selected Photographers: A Collector's Compendium," The Photograph Collector's Guide, Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1979, 127.

Member of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD)