[ARAB CITIES / PHOTOGRAPHY] Souvenir d'Alep (Syrie). / Panoramique d'Alep. [i.e. Panorama of Aleppo]

THE WATTAR FRERES (Edited and probably photographed by).

The Wattar Freres, Aleppo, [ca. 1920's].

Eight panels of panoramic photograph folded into original printed light brick-red card wrappers titled "Souvenir d’Alep (Syrie). / Panoramique d’Alep" and "Editeur Wattar Freres, Alep (Syrie)" on the cover. Open size: 9x112 cm. In French. Contemporarily repaired verso of hinges by tape. Overall, a fine copy.

Scarce wide-angle black and white photo-lithographic panoramic view of one of the oldest and most important cities of the Islamic Middle East, Aleppo of Syria, taken at twilight time, in the 1920s, when the country was under the French Occupation between 1920-22. This attractive photograph was edited and also probably taken by the Wattar Brothers, who were the famous and prolific editors and photographers of Syria and Southeast Anatolia including Kilis, Aintab (today: Gaziantep), etc. The Wattar Freres' descendants were present in Syria until the early 2000s (Serifoglu). This panorama is uncommon, showing many architectural buildings peculiar to Aleppo is no longer in place after the wars, especially the ongoing Syrian Civil War.