By Duane Troxel
Cary Enoch Reinstein created the Web presentation and enhanced some of the images. An online gallery of his art and photography is here: http://www.enochsvision.com/
| Introduction By Duane Troxel |
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| The 42 hand-tinted photographs that make up the core of this publication were scanned in from an early Bahá’í publication whose title page states: Views of Acca, Haifa, Mt. Carmel, and Other Places, published by the Bahá’í Publishing Society, Chicago, U.S.A. The exact title and publication date of this work has never been firmly established in the various bibliographies that have been produced over the years. For example: The Bahá’í World, Vol. 17 (1976-79), p. 572 gives a close approximation to the actual title page; Views of Acca, Haifa, Mount Carmel and Other Holy Places. It states the book was published in 1918 in paper, cloth and leather. | |
| One of the things which makes this book so extraordinary, besides its age, historical importance, and the coloring of the pictures is that 'Abdu'l-Bahá approved the images Himself. The title page declares: “THESE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE DULY AUTHORIZED BY 'ABDU'L-BAHÁ AND ARE PLACED IN THIS FORM FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO LONG TO SEE THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH.” | |
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| The book’s earliest mention may be the one that appears on page 2 of Star of the West, Vol. II, No.13 (November 4, 1911). Under a display ad giving the Price List of Publications of the Bahá’í Revelation this item is given: Portfolio of Views of [the] Holy Land...........1.00. On page 2 of Star of the West (Vol. III, No. 2, April 9, 1912) a full page ad appears announcing that The Bahá’í Publishing Society has just issued a handsome new edition of the Album of Views, which is bound in elegant cloth covers with gold letters for the sum of $1.25. (All the photos in this publication were scanned from the 1912 cloth bound edition). The non-deluxe editions were bound with pasteboard covers. This writer believes this book originally appeared in pasteboard covers in late 1911 and in cloth covers sometime in April, 1912. | |
| The photographs themselves reveal that some were taken at least as early as 1903 and others as late as 1911. The 1903 dating is derived from the fact that the 18th Apostle of Bahá’u’lláh, Mullá Zaynu’l-Abid’n, surnamed Zaynu’l-Muqarrab’n (pictured on second page before this) died in 1903. See his biography in Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 274-276). The 1911 date is taken from the photograph of 'Abdu'l-Bahá which was originally taken in Paris in 1911 and was first published on page 2 of Star of the West, Vol. II, No. 14 (November 23, 1911). Its caption states that “This photograph was selected by 'Abdu'l-Bahá from several taken in Paris, recently, and permission granted to circulate it.” | |
| The purpose of the newly-researched commentary is to correct and enrich the original commentary. There has been no attempt to be exhaustive in researching the photographs that appear in this publication. The aim is to enable users to learn a bit about each image and to get a lead or two about where additional information might be gleaned. In general, the user is advised to consult The Bahá’í Holy Places at the World Centre, Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1968 and various editions of The Bahá’í World under the section titled International Survey of Current Bahá’í Activities--especially volumes 13-18. Also extremely useful are H.M. Balyuzi's biographies of The Báb, Bahá'u'lláh: The King of Glory, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Additionally, see Adib Taherzadeh's works on The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh (Vols. 3 and 4), The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, and The Child of the Covenant. | |
| The people responsible for this presentation extend their deep gratitude to Erica Toussaint for lending her rare copy for use in creating this special work. Her comments and suggestions helped make this a much better presentation than it would have been otherwise. | |
| Carefully researched Commentary was provided by Duane Troxel, founder and CEO of Digital-Transformations. Website: http://digital-transformations.com/cart/ | |
| We invite others to add information as their research turns up new findings related to the images or the text of the overlays. | |
| Bill Dvorak provided the high quality scans of the book. Cary Enoch Reinstein created the Web presentation and enhanced some of the images. An online gallery of his art and photography is here: http://www.enochsvision.com/ |
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