Sgt, James Macdonald (1822-1885)

Sgt, James Macdonald (1822-1885)

JERUSALEM, CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, HEBRON & TWO FURTHER VIEWS, 1869, Vintage albumen prints (4), image size, approx 266 x 232mm (2), 246 x 186mm (2), two examples titled verso

(Quantity:4)

The Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by the British Royal Engineers was the first modern cartographic and archeological survey of Palestine. The expedition, directed by Colonel Sir Henry James and led by Captain Charles Wilson, was commissioned in response to the unhealthy state of the water supply in Jerusalem, then a rather neglected province of the Ottoman Empire. The contingent was responsible for levelling the land from Jerusalem to Solomon’s Pool, and investigating the nature and extent of the water supplies of the city. Besides these works, and making the first modern map of Jerusalem, one of the engineers, Sergeant James McDonald was equipped with a photographic apparatus and took photographs of the historic sights and the topography, and documented the architectural and archaeological details of the city.

The result of the Survey is the monumental “Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem”, which was published in 1865. The three-volume work is illustrated with more than seventy photographs taken by McDonald, and three by Peter Bergheim, who was one of the first resident photographers in Palestine (one of his images, titled the “Wailing Place of the Jews” included into the present album too). McDonald’s photographs were also available for purchase from the Ordnance Survey Office in Southhampton (Schwartz, p. 233.)