[Photo album: Asmara, Addis Ababa, and the Roads and Railways of Eritrea and Ethiopia]

Descripción

Red leatherette album lace bound with fastener, landscape 33 x 25cm. This contains 84 b/w photos pasted on to card leaves, 3 per side, 113x81mm with deckle-edged white borders. Each photo is discreetly numbered on the card 1-85 (82 was missed in error). There are no captions or accompanying text. However, this was prepared by Fotocelere Coloniale in Asmara, with their labels to the endpapers. Interiors and photos near fine. Album good with some wear and marks. This looks to be extremely rare. Worldcat records one similar at the Getty Research Institute, with 110 photos and various other inserts, which it dates c1935-42. Fotocelere Coloniale was a part of Fotocelere di A. Campassi, founded in Turin in 1908 by Mariano De Sperati with the name Compagnia Fotocelere. In 1910, Sperati went into partnership with Angelo Campassi, who took full control from 1917 until 1942. It produced graphic art and photo postcards in a wide range of subjects. The photographers are not identified. Fotocelere Coloniale's objective in this and the Getty album was to showcase Fascist Italy's modernisation of Eritrea and colonisation of Ethiopia through its major infrastructure projects and buildings, and the introduction of modern architectural styles. These include the Eritrean Railway completed in 1932 to run from Biscia to Massawa via Cheren and Asmara; roads linking colonial capital Asmara with other major settlements in Eritrea and the "imperial road" from Massawa to Ethiopia; power lines; and modern civil and religious buildings. While these links were intended to support the nascent manufacturing industry, they also served an important imperial and military purpose. Photos 1-11 showcase Asmara with its grand new boulevards including the Viale Mussolini (2). These served to segregate local and European neighbourhoods, industrial and mixed areas. Prominent are three major buildings, recently completed, including the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built in Lombard Romanesque style in 1921-3 (8); Khulafa al-Rashidun Mosque, initiated by Mussolini and completed in 1936 combining Rationalist, Classical and Islamic styles (9); and Enda Mariam Orthodox Cathedral, built 1920, completed in 1938 in a Modernist style (10). Photos 12-39 show the road and rail links. There are several dramatic views of the Asmara Massawa highway with its sharp hairpin bends and steep drops, as well as broad largely empty tree lined roads on the approaches to various settlements. The Italians built Dogali Bridge (14) west of Massawa in the 1930s, during the Fascist build-up for the invasion of Ethiopia. There are equally dramatic views of the Railway, the liquid fuel powered Fiat Littorina railcar introduced in the 1930s, Art Deco in style (25, 29, 30), crossing high arched viaducts, and steam locomotives. Photos 40ff may be of the important commercial centre of Cheren, which developed with the coming of the Railway NW of Asmara with its mosque (41), and of Senafe based on the aerial view (55). The final photos feature Addis Ababa including St George's Cathedral (84) and the Mausoleum of Menelik II (85). The flag of the Kingdom of Italy can just about be discerned flying from one of the buildings (81). Unnamed colonial buildings appear to combine Italian and local styles, while others are more clearly Art Deco (71, 73). For contrast, there are also images of local markets (42, 43) and traditional huts (66, 83) possibly at Barentu. N° de ref. del artículo 4567

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