An Early Album of the World: Photographs 1842-1896

This history of the dissemination of photography as a form of documentation and an instrument of discovering and understanding the world and its people includes a wide selection of images from the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi, it provides historical and technical aspects that give an understanding of the geopolitical circumstances in which photography was introduced in various parts of the world, highlighting the key elements and chronological boundaries of the appropriation of the medium outside of Europe, the work of local photographers, and the role of governments.