Henry-Rene D'Allemagne (1863-1950)

Henry-Rene D'Allemagne (1863-1950)

CENTRAL ASIA TRAVELS ARCHIVE, c.1898. A collection of glass positives and glass negatives (approx. 170), in ten labelled boxes, sizes between 6.5 x9 cm and 12x 9 cm of the mission and travels of Henry-Rene D’Allemagne 1898-1899. Together with 24 copper-plate photo etchings, mounted to wooden bases. Places identified are Petroalexandrovsk. Amou-Daria. Mechikli-Sadivar. Khiva à Kasar-Haspe. Samarkand, Bokhara, Kiev, Odessa, Vladikavkaz, Tiflis, Baku and Krasnovodsk. The images on the copper are a mix of illustrations and photographic imagery.

Literature: D'Allemagne, Henry-Rene (1863-1950). Du Khorassan au pays des Backhtiaris: trois mois de voyage en Perse. Paris: Hachette, 1912. 4 Vol.

Henry D’Allemagne was a famous French writer, archivist and palaeograph at the Musee D’Arsenal in Paris. He travelled on four separate trips to the Middle East during his annual leaves. The first was to Samarkand and Bokhara, the second to Khiva, third to north Iran and the Khorassan province and the fourth and last to Turkestan.The present archive is related to his fourth expedition, to Turkestan in September 1899, financed by the ministry of culture. This scientific expedition passed through Kiev, Odessa, Vladikavkaz, Tiflis, Baku, Krasnovodsk and along the traditional route of the Silk Road taking in Ashkhabad, Bokhara and Samarkand. It is possible that he employed a photographer on his travels and is responsible for the many glass positives in this collection; it is unlikely that Allemagne himself took these photographs.

His research and collections were aided and approved by the Bakhtiari ruler Sardar Assad Bakhtiari. a key figure in the Persian Constitutional Revolution. The richly illustrated volumes in Du Khorassan au pays des Backhtiaris would not have been possible without the help of this important figure. The images in the glass positives and shown on the photo etched copper plates are integral to the entire project. There were 255 plates and 960 separate photographic images inserted amongst the text.

Source: Henry-René d'Allemagne. Du Khorassan au pay des Backhtiaris, trois mois de voyage en Perse. Paris, Hachette, 1912. [compte-rendu]

Auteur mentionné dans une citation ou des extraits de textes: Jacqueton Gilbert. Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes Année 1913 74 pp. 155-159