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physical anthropologist Paul Broca. His photography
was a central part of his wide interest in anthropology,
geography and natural history on which he published
extensively. He is best remembered for his anthropologi-
cal photographs. Many of them were undertaken at the
various international exhibitions of the late nineteenth
century. He photographed and measured indigenous
people from Surinam at the Amsterdam Colonial Ex-
hibition (1883), the Omaha Native Americans and and
Kalmouks at the Jardin d’ Acclimitation (1884), and
Australian Aboriginal people toured by Cunningham
as ‘exotics’ (1885) who were appearing at the Folie
Bergère. He also undertook similar photography dur-
ing his scientifi c travels. In 1884 he went to northern
Scandinavia where he photographed the Saami people
and in 1887 he travelled to North America and Mexico.
His photographs were published privately as portfolios
of mounted albumen prints, stamped with Bonaparte’s
coat of arms. Focussing on a specifi c cultural or racial
group, each portfolio was accompanied a pamphlet
of names ages and basic anthropometric information.
These portfolios were presented to scientifi c societies
around the world.
Elizabeth Edwards
BONFILS, FÉLIX-ADRIEN (1831–1885),
MARIE-LYDIE CABANIS (1837–1918),
AND ADRIEN (1861–1929)
French photographers and photo publishers
Born on 8 March 1831 in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort (Gard,
France), Félix Bonfi ls was a bookbinder-turned-photog-
rapher. Little is known about his beginnings. Although
there is no contemporary confi rmation, he is believed
to have opened a studio in the nearby town of Allais in
1864, and in 1866–67, he apparently perfected his tech-
nique with Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor. This was just
before embarking on what would become the adventure
of his life, the creation in 1867 of a photographic studio
in Beirut, soon to be known worldwide.
Félix married Lydie Cabanis in 1857. Both traveled
to Lebanon before 1867, Félix as a soldier in 1860,
and, a few years later, Lydie accompanied their son
Adrien, who was recovering from illness. These sojourns
prompted them to settle in Beirut. From 1864 to World
War I, the city was the capital of “Mount-Lebanon,” a
Syrian autonomous province under Turkish domination,
but administrated by a catholic governor approved both
by Turkish and European governments. Mount-Lebanon
was prosperous, peaceful, and at the very heart of a mul-
ticultural Middle East. Another European photographer,
Tancrède Dumas, settled in Beirut in 1867, but while
most of guidebooks for tourists mention both studios,
they favor Bonfi ls works as better.
In December 1871, Félix Bonfi ls reported his achieve-
ments to the Société Française de Photographie: he had
no fewer than 15,000 albumen prints in stock, obtained
from 590 negatives made in Syria, Palestine, Egypt,
and Greece. This core ensemble also comprised 9,000
stereographic cards. In 1876, the fl ourishing company
published its fi rst offi cial catalogue, listing 395 views
of various Mediterranean sites explored before, with the
notable addition of Constantinople. In addition, the cata-
logue featured 33 “Diverse Costumes,” actually types
ranging from “Arab Musicians” (no. 240) to “Turkish
Woman” (no. 261), and 537 stereographic views, 99
of them devoted to costumes. Other catalogues were
published c1885 (F. Bonfi ls & Cie), 1901 (A. Bonfi ls),
1907 (Veuve Bonfi ls), and c1925 (Photographie Bonfi ls,
A. Guiragossian Successeur).
Retailers were mentioned for the fi rst time in the
c1885 catalogue. Apart from Beirut, Bonfi ls’ photo-
graphs were available in Paris and London, in Egypt
(Cairo, Alexandria, and Port-Said), and in Damascus.
One important distributor was not mentioned, because
their collaboration had ceased by 1885. As early as 1872,
Bonfi ls contracted with an American publisher, Charles
Taber & Co., of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Nothing
is known about the terms of their contract, but Taber
actually published the fi rst Bonfi ls catalogue. In 1872,
four years before Bonfi ls’ catalogue was published,
Taber & Co., the “Sole agents for the United States,”
released their Catalogue of Views in the East, Egypt,
Palestine, Syria, Greece (Original), 9 × 11 inches, on
16 × 20 mounts, and Stereoscopic Views of Palestine
from New Original Negatives by Bonfi ls, Photographer,
Beirut, Syria. The catalogue listed 367 views and 158
stereocards, available in the United States, for almost
a decade. Taber’s next catalogues mentioned Bonfi ls
photographs until 1881. As a result, many of Bonfi ls’
prints in various repositories in the United States, such
as the University of Chicago Library, were mounted on
a distinctive board with a printed caption in English and
bore the imprint of Charles Taber.
At the same time, Félix re-opened a studio in Alès,
and started the publication of his opus-magnus. Souve-
nirs d’Orient, a fi ve-volume compilation of his 250 best
photographs was released in 1878. This ambitious work
earned him a medal at the 1878 Exposition universelle
in Paris. Bonfi ls’ commercial ambition manifested itself
in the trilingual brief texts accompanying each plate—
French, English, and German. Souvenirs d’Orient,
which also existed in a small size, was conceived as the
perfect record for an international clientele travelling
on a Grand Tour. In 1880, Bonfi ls established in Alès a
collotype printing factory, where his photographs were
printed, some assembled in portfolios. Few examples of
this production survived; it probably ceased upon Félix’
death on April 9, 1885.