Middlemass album two

Album containing images of Egypt and Palestine taken by William Gladstone Middlemass during his service in World War II, 1940-1943. Also contains a few images of [England?].

- Album features scenes of military life, with a particular focus on the New Zealand Dental Corps and leisure activities. Various dental clinics are shown including a tent in the desert, the I Camp dental hospital, and a tooth brushing station with instructions for troops. A variety of unidentified soldiers (both dentists and patients) are shown during treatment. Men are also photographed at tourist sites, at the camp, in street scenes, and during a military funeral. They are engaged in activities including eating and drinking, writing letters, swimming and at the poolside, getting their hair cut, bartering, taking photographs, and in portraits. Middlemass is shown taking photographs in two images on the first page of the album.

- Scenes from Egypt include the Sphinx and pyramids at Giza, Karnak Temple Complex, Maadi village and train station, the Australian & New Zealand Bazaar and the ANZAC store, Lehnert & Lindrock Art Publisher shop and proprietor, [Helwan Hospital?], Feluccas on the Nile, river scenes at Aswan, and birds and a hippopotamus at an unidentified zoo. Various scenes show Egyptian children and adults, agriculture, animals such as donkeys and camels, a man weaving at a loom, commercial transactions, and transportation of goods.

- Scenes from Palestine include a few images of Tel Aviv (apartment buildings and ocean promenade), but mainly focus on Jerusalem. Photographs of the latter city include sites such as the Mount of Olives, Old City, Australian Imperial Forces Monument, Mosque of Omar, YMCA, Eden Hotel, David's Tower and Citadel, unidentified ancient ruins and the interior of an unidentified church. Street scenes include various religious processions [Orthodox Christian?] and street vendors including a cobbler and a goat. Also contains images of soldiers at the Allenby Bridge and scenic shots of the Jordan River. It is unclear whether images of villages and villagers, agricultural scenes (a camel herder and his animals, children and men with bunches of grapes), are taken in Palestine or Jordan.

- Album also holds a small amount of photographs that were likely taken in England. These include a grand house, a partially ruined church, and men in a village.

- Two loose prints are stored in an envelope interleaved between the cover and first page of the album.

Quantity: 1 album(s) Album(s).

Physical Description: Photograph album with cleopatra and hieroglyphics illustrations on mottled leather containing silver gelatin photoprints