G. Eric Matson. The Middle East in Pictures.

(ISRAEL, LAND OF).

Arno Press

New York

1980

Edited by George S. Hobart. Four volumes. Hundreds of photograhpic illustrations.

Library of Congress curator George Hobart's short introductory texts to a visual catalogue comprised of photographic prints originally offered for sale by the Matson Photo Service, Jerusalem; images cropped from original negatives. Around 1900, Elijah Meyers, a member of Jerusalem’s American Colony, began taking photographs of places and events in and around the city. Meyers' work eventually expanded into a full-fledged photographic division within the Colony, including Hol Lars (Lewis) Larsson and G. Eric Matson, who later renamed the effort as the Matson Photographic Service. Their interest in archeological artifacts and the detail of their photographs, led to widespread interest in their work by archeologists. The collection was later donated to the Library of Congress.