Lot 90
J.A. GRANT [Europe & M. East] 8 albums photographs

Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000

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About this Lot
Description
J.A. GRANT (photographer) [Europe & Middle East] 8 albums of Grant's photographs

Offered for sale by Adam Langlands of 'Shadowrock Rare Books' - for more information please contact him via email at adamlanglands@gmail.com 

John Adrian GRANT, M.V.O. (b1915, diplomat and photographer). Collection of 8 albums containing over 420 photographs by Grant, offering a partial chronicle of the places Grant visited during his career in the Diplomatic Corps and the Foreign Office. [Various locations: 1937-1972]. 8 volumes, oblong 4to or folio, 429 photos. (7 x 5inches and smaller), most tipped onto album leaves. (Some photos. detached and loosely inserted). Various bindings.

A spectacular survey of Europe and the Middle East, through the eyes of a gifted photographer and trained observer, covering a period of huge change and upheaval. The main thrust of the images is as a record of the landscape and architecture of the places visited, but Grant does also record some of the people he met during his travels. He was detained by the Nazis at the start of WWII : it is worth speculating that his fondness for photography did not help his claim to case as an innocent member of the Diplomatic Corps ?

The chronology of Grant’s career and his albums is as follows:

25 October 1937 probationer Vice-Consul at Istanbul, Turkey

[Album: 93 photos, Turkey, #6]

25 August 1938 acting Vice-Consul at Vienna, Austria (detained 3 Sept 1939, released 24 Dec 1939)

[Album: 28 photos, Central Europe, #7 ‘1938-1939’]

[Album: 55 photos, Italy, #8 (1938-1939)]

16 Feb 1940 appointed at Port Said, Egypt (1940 in charge of consulate at Suez)

[Album: 88 photos, Egypt, #3 (1940-1941)]

27 Nov 1941 acting vice-Consul at Beirut, Syria

[Album: 41 photos, Syria & Lebanon, including images by or printed by V. Derounian, of Aleppo, #4 ‘1941-1942’]

13 April resumed duties at Port Said, Egypt

5 January 1943 appointed Vice-Consul at Shiraz, Iran

3 June 1943 transferred to Kermanshah, Iran

1 Jan 1944 appointed Vice-Consul at H.M. Embassy at Tehran, Iran

5 April 1946 appointed Consul at Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)

[Album: 85 photos, Czechoslovakia, #5 (1946-1948)]

6 Sept 1948 transferred to the Foreign Office

29 Nov 1949 transferred to Ankara as 1st Secretary (Information)

1 Dec. 1952 transferred to the Foreign Office

1956 Consul in Tangiers, Morocco

[Album: 21 photos of N. Africa], #1

1961 1st Secretary Foreign Office (Secretary Egyptian grants committee 1963-6)

1967 Diplomatic Service Administration

1968-1972 Consul at Innsbruck, Austria

[Album: 18 photographs of alpine Austria, #2 (1968-1972)]