Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture
Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more
Photo Album by Alfons Himmelreich – Mif'al HaShiloach
Opening: $400
Unsold
Mif'al HaShiloach – emergency water supply to Jerusalem. Published by the "Mekorot" Water Company Ltd., July 1948. Photographs: A. Himmelreich.
Unique album comprising 15 photographs by photographer Alfons Himmelreich, documenting the laying of the water pipe from Hulda to the pumps in Sha'ar HaGai, along the route of the "Burma Road", and from there – to Jerusalem.
The HaShiloach water pipeline was laid during the months of July-August 1948, in a swift operation intended to relief the besieged Jerusalem – which was cut off from its water sources by Arab forces in May the same year – from its acute water shortages. The operation was named after "Nikbat HaShiloah", the Siloam tunnel, that famously supplied Jerusalem with water during the Assyrian siege in the days of the first temple.
A label with the old logo of the "Mekorot" Water Company is pasted on the first page, alongside a note with the inscription "Dr. Daniel Auster", indicating that this copy belonged to Jerusalem's first mayor after the 1948 war, Daniel Auster.
The album opens with a poetic text, praising the successful project: "And Jerusalem was under siege and the enemy plotted to exhaust the power of its defenders and warriors through thirst and cut off its water arteries. . . and an order was given from the Ministry of Defense to the Mekorot Company to break the plot and bring water to the city . . .". Also included is a map of the pipeline project.
[18] ff., 28X40 cm. Photographs: 17X12.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears to tissue guards. Elegant parchment binding. Minor tears and stains to binding.
Unique album comprising 15 photographs by photographer Alfons Himmelreich, documenting the laying of the water pipe from Hulda to the pumps in Sha'ar HaGai, along the route of the "Burma Road", and from there – to Jerusalem.
The HaShiloach water pipeline was laid during the months of July-August 1948, in a swift operation intended to relief the besieged Jerusalem – which was cut off from its water sources by Arab forces in May the same year – from its acute water shortages. The operation was named after "Nikbat HaShiloah", the Siloam tunnel, that famously supplied Jerusalem with water during the Assyrian siege in the days of the first temple.
A label with the old logo of the "Mekorot" Water Company is pasted on the first page, alongside a note with the inscription "Dr. Daniel Auster", indicating that this copy belonged to Jerusalem's first mayor after the 1948 war, Daniel Auster.
The album opens with a poetic text, praising the successful project: "And Jerusalem was under siege and the enemy plotted to exhaust the power of its defenders and warriors through thirst and cut off its water arteries. . . and an order was given from the Ministry of Defense to the Mekorot Company to break the plot and bring water to the city . . .". Also included is a map of the pipeline project.
[18] ff., 28X40 cm. Photographs: 17X12.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears to tissue guards. Elegant parchment binding. Minor tears and stains to binding.
Photography
Photography