Voyage d'Exploration à la Mer Morte à Petra et sur la Rive Gauche du Jourdain

[...]; Private collector, New York; [Donald A. Heald Rare Books, New York]

"Voyage d’Exploration à la Mer Mort à Petra et sur la Rive Gauche du Jourdain" brings together several key figures and historical threads of early French photography. In spring and fall of 1864 Vignes served as official photographer for two archaeological, geological, and scientific expeditions to the Dead Sea basin and surrounding areas, from Jerusalem to Petra and Aquaba to Lake Tiberias, led (and financed) by the Duc de Luynes. Luynes, a member of the Société française de photographie beginning in 1856, is best remembered as the sponsor of a competition announced that same year with an award of 7000 francs for the inventor of the best process for permanent photographic prints. The prize spurred the development of various photogravure and photolithographic processes and—after several extensions of the competition—was finally awarded to Alphonse Poitevin in 1867. Nonetheless, Luynes selected Charles Nègre in 1865 to produce the 64 photogravures for the pictorial atlas of a four-volume publication that recorded his experiences and findings from the 1864 expeditions (published 1868-74). The strength of Vignes’ photographs, the rich quality of Nègre’s photogravures, and the importance of Luynes in the history of photomechanical printing, all make "Voyage d’Exploration à la Mer Mort a Petra et sur la River Gauche du Jourdain" an important work in the history of photography.

Borcoman, James. Charles Nègre, 1820–1880. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1976. pp. 45–46.

Goldschmidt, Helmut, and Weston J. Naef. The Truthful Lens: A Survey of the Photographically Illustrated Book, 1844–1914. 1st ed. New York: The Grolier Club, 1980. no. 109, p. 211.

Parr, Martin, and Gerry Badger. The Photobook: A History. Vol. 1. New York: Phaidon Press, 2004. p. 33.