Western Literature on the History of Qajar Era Photography (original) (raw)

This bibliographic essay runs through the history of western studies of the history of photography connected with the events in Iran during the Qajar era, and records the bibliographic notes from the literature on the subject between 1960 and 2006. The introduction sketches out an overview high-lighting the connections between the research done so far, as well as the construction of the specific historiographical sources and the defi nition of the varied historiographical interpretations. What initially drew our interest was the early contribution of an Italian scholar in 1972 and the presence of Italian photographers in Persia operating during the Qajar era. Later the development of western studies and the interaction with Iranian studies led to what is now a clear project to build a historiography of Iranian photography, a working model where both historiography and its object, photography, are evident.