Leo Kahn [Leo Kann] — Palestina IM Bild

Berlin, Judischer, 1912 . First edition. Hardback. A fascinating and very scarce collection of one-hundred and seventy photogravures by Leo Kahn, depicting early twentieth century Palestinian life. In the original German.The photographs reproduced here were taken in 1912 by Kahn (or Kann), during a mission he undertook to Palestine, on behalf of the newspaper Judische Zeitung in cooperation with the Jewish National Fund, a non-profit organization founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria for Jewish settlement.Kahn was the first to create a comprehensive photographic documentation of early twentieth century Palestine, shortly before WWI, which radically changed its demographics. His portrayal of Arab and Jewish life and the local landscape served the efforts of the emerging Zionist movement in Europe. Collated, illustrated with seventy photogravure plates. This publication was initially issued in three portfolios, with a total of one-hundred and eighty plates divided between the three. Complete sets of all one-hundred and eighty plates are exceptionally scarce. As the plates belonging to each of the three portfolios were not labelled as such, and we lack the original envelopes, it is impossible to tell if the plates present in this volume belong to only one of the three portfolios, or contain a mix of all of them.This publication was issued in three portfolios, with a total of one-hundred and eighty plates divided between the three. Complete sets of all one-hundred and eighty plates are exceptionally scarce.This collection includes photographs of schoolhouses, farms, washerwomen, a caravan procession over Mount Hermon, and Arabic and Jewish life. In the publisher's original portfolio binding, with paper covered boards, and pictorial onlay to front board. Boards detached, with majority of paper back strip lacking. Bumping and rubbing to board perimeters. Internally, unbound as issued. Plates bright and generally clean, with some spotting and instances of foxing to plate perimeters. Good Only . Ill.: Leo Kahn [Leo Kann]. Good Only .