Fourteen original gelatin silver photos from ca. 16x20,5 cm (6x8 in) to ca. 12x18 cm (4 ¾ x 7 in) (including one duplicate) and five panoramas from ca. 8,5x28,5 cm (3 ¼ x 11 ¼ in) to ca. 8,5x23 cm (3 ¼ x 9 in). All but one photo with period military censor’s ink stamps on verso (“Passed for transmission abroad”) and attached paper labels with typewritten or printed captions; fourteen photos with period ink stamps “Official Photograph, Issued by Associated Illustration Agencies, Ltd. <…> Crown copyright reserved” on verso. One photo with a period pencil caption on verso. Images slightly waved, one photo with the right side torn off, four photos with one of the sides or corners creased, a couple mildly faded, but overall a very good collection of interesting strong photos.

Interesting collection of well-annotated official photos from the Middle Eastern and Western fronts of WW1, issued by the British government-affiliated “Associated Illustration Agencies, Ltd.” in 1917-1918. Most images (fourteen) document military actions in Syria and Palestine. Seven photos with the half title “Egyptian Official Photograph” show “West Country troops in the Judean foothills: artillery on the march” (period pencil caption reads “15th division. Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Cornwall”); “West Country troops in the Judean foothills: transport on the march;” “watering horses in the Jordan;” “pontoon bridge over the Jordan, El Ghoraniyeh;” “part of front line held by Highlanders;” “sanding defenses on the coast at front line;” and “Jebel Kuruntul (occupied by London troops February 2nd/18) or Quarantana, the traditional scene of Christ’s temptation.”

Five photos with the half title “Palestine Official Photograph” depict the scene of “reading the Proclamation from the steps at the base of the Tower of David <…>” (formal surrender of Jerusalem to British troops, took place on December 11, 1917); “Arab regular soldiers searching Bedouin suspects at one of the entrances to the city of Damascus <…> taken by the official photographer on the journey to Damascus and in Damascus itself from September 29th to October 3rd, 1918;” “British yeomanry passing through Damascus” (with one duplicate); “Indian Lancers passing through Damascus;” and “Indian Lancers entering Haifa.” An image with the half title “Official Photograph of Gaza” shows “Turkish trenches in Al Arish Redoubt; this strong was captured by a battalion of the Royal Scots.”

Five photos illustrate the events on the Western front, showing ruined “Cloth Hall at Ypres,” destruction on the “panoramic view of the City of Ypres as it is today,” “at one time a railway – now No Man’s Land,” an aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps returning from a “photographic reconnaissance flight,” and a group portrait taken at British Expeditionary Force General Headquarters at Montreul-Sur-Mer on August 7, 1918, featuring King George V, French President Raymond Poincare, Sir Douglas Haid (Commander of British Forces on the Western Front in 1915-18), and three French military commanders.

Overall an interesting collection of official photos, documenting events on the Middle Eastern and Western fronts during the last two years of WW1.