MECA Photos
MECA Photos
Photographic Resources
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The Middle East Centre Archive holds a substantial photographic collection of over 100,000 images covering all areas of the Middle East from the 1850s. The bulk of the collection consists of early to mid 20th Century photographs with a smaller number of 19th Century photographs including Bonfils and American Colony. Major Collections include the photographs of Freya Stark and St John Philby.
The Middle East Centre Archive is committed to improving access to its photographic collections and has therefore started to develop online photo galleries. For copyright reasons only images that can be published can be put online. As digitisation work on suitable collections progresses more images will put online. To view images that are currently online please visit our Photo Galleries Homepage
Please note that for conservation reasons photographs are only available for viewing via microfiche or contact sheets in the Archive reading room, except by special arrangement with the Archivist. Please see the online Historical Photographs of the Middle East Microfiche Catalogue (pdf file) for details as to what material is available for viewing on microfiche. The Freya Stark Collection is also available to view on microfiche. Please see the Freya Stark Microfiche Catalogue (pdf file)
By arrangement with the Archivist, a limited research service for images is available. The first half hour of an enquiry will be provided free of charge thereafter the charge is £20.00 per hour (excluding VAT). Watermarked images can be provided for remote browsing. Once an image has been selected for purchase the cost of each image is as advertised in our Prices for Copies of Photographs
Copyright and Permission to Publish
Due to changes in UK Copyright law in 2014, the exemption that permits Archives to copy material for private study and non commercial research now includes artistic works (such as photographs). Consequently we can now provide copies of photographs for private study and non commercial research. However our ability to license material for publication depends on the copyright status of the material.
Collections for which the Archive can provide copies for publication include:
Edward Ashley | |
Nina Baird | Egypt images available to view online |
Gertrude Bell | Arabia, Mesopotamia/Iraq Some Mesopotamia/Iraq images available to view online |
Estelle Blyth | Palestine 1st World War Some photographs by Khalil Raad available to view online |
Jill Brown | Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza, India, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the UAE and the West Bank. A selection of Qatar slides: available to view online |
Humphrey Bowman | Arabia Album 1: available to view online |
Charles Butt |
Gulf States, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Sudan, Turkey |
Sidney Carter | Palestine Police 1930s-1940s |
Dr Norman Corkill | 426 colour 35mm slides of Aden, the Protectorate and the Hadhramaut, 1950s Selection available to view online |
W.A. Cross | Postcards of Egypt and Somalia, c1899-1908 Selection available to view online |
H.R.P. Dickson | Bahrain, Kuwait |
Dame Violet Dickson | Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sharjah, Yemen Album 8 Desert Camps. Nasser at Nariyeh 1968: available to view online |
Henry James Ellison | Persia 1945-1948, Syria 1933 Ellison Album 1 Persia 1945-1948 available to view online |
George Edwards | 3 photograph albums from George Edward's Army service in the Royal Engineers covering Egypt, Libya, Syria and Palestine 1940-1944 Selection of images available to view online. |
Christopher Gandy | Yemen, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt Selection of images available to view online |
General John Graham | Oman |
John Bagot Glubb | Images of Iraq and Transjordan 1920s-1950s Iraq Album 1 available to view online |
Sir Rupert Hay | Afghanistan, Iraq, India, Britain 1910-1934 |
Charles Iffla | Turkey 1943-1944 |
Jerusalem and East Mission Magic Lantern Slides | Images of the Holy Land mainly consisting of portraits of people from various places including Nazareth, Bethlehem, Mount Carmel and Jerusalem. Late 19th/early 20th century. Magic lantern slides Box 8 available to view online |
Jerusalem and East Mission Album 1 | Images of the Holy Land (Palestine/Jordan), Lebanon and Syria, 1860s-1882 Selection from Album 1 available to view online |
Jerusalem Photograph Album | Images of the Holy Land mainly of Jerusalem but also including Joseph's Tomb, Jacob's well and Gideon's fountain, as well as images relating to education such as group photographs of school children, 1891-1901, 1922. |
James Kirkcaldy | British Mandate Palestine Police |
Helen Lotbinière | Aden |
Bini Malcolm | Yemen, Iran |
Norman Mayers | Album 1 Arabia (Jedda) c1926: available to view online |
Reginald Monckton | Palestine and Transjordan 1920s: available to view online |
Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Collection | Photographs by Bryan Huffner from a tour of Iran in 1948-1949 |
Stewart Perowne | Aden, Palestine, Syria, Iraq |
St John Philby | Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Syria, Transjordan |
Charles Pirie | 41 colour slides of a tour through Oman in 1966: available to view online |
John Poole | Palestine 1938-1943, Hadramaut 1952, Qatar 1954, Iran 1956 |
Sir George Rendel | Saudi Arabia: some images available to view online |
Sir Andrew Ryan |
Turkey c1900-1910. Saudi Arabia 1930-1935 Sir Andrew Ryan Photographs Catalogue (pdf) |
Alan Saunders | Saunders Album 5: Palestine, 1st World War, available to view online |
Carpenter Scholes | Persia 1890s: available to view online |
Arthur Lionel Smith | Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Transjordan c1910-1931 Album 6: Iraq 1920s available to view online |
John Allan Smith | Souvenir photographs of the Hajj prior to 1914 mainly consisting of images of pilgrim sites in Mecca subjects include pilgrims, a view of Medina, the Moallah cemetery, the parading of the carpet and a group photograph of Arab medical officials. Images available to view online |
Freya Stark |
Aden, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Persia, South Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey Freya Stark Photographic Collection Catalogue (pdf) Egypt Photograph Album selection available to view online Persia Photograph Album available to view online Small selection of South Arabia images available to view online |
Sir Joseph Tholozan | Persia, 1859-1884 Albums 1-11 and loose prints available to view online |
Harry Wade | Iraq, 1928-1930: selection of 60 images available to view online |
H.V. Weakley | Pilgrimage Mecca c1912: available to view online |
There are also some smaller collections and some 19th Century published photographs such as American Colony and Bonfils that we can provide copies of for publication.
Please note that the provision of an image does not imply permission to publish. Permission to publish must be obtained in writing from the Director of the Middle East Centre, and the appropriate reproduction fees must be paid.
When applying for permission to publish please fill out our Application form for Permission to Publish Images (word document).
Prices for Copies of Photographs
In House Service
The MEC Archive is now able to offer a limited in house photographic service. Loose prints will be copied using an A4 flatbed scanner. For photographs that are stuck into albums, which cannot be copied using a flatbed scanner, an image will be taken using a copystand and digital camera. Images taken using a digital camera in house may not be as high in quality as those provided by our external professional photographer.
Flatbed scanner | Digital Camera | |
Emailed Electronic JPEG Image: | £6.00 | £15.00 |
Print from Scan: 4" x 6" (10 x 15 cm) | £7.80 | £16.80 |
Print from Scan: 5" x 7" (13 x 18 cm) | £9.00 | £18.00 |
Print from Scan: A4 Size | £11.40 | £20.40 |
Please note that the above prices include VAT
Publication Fees
The provision of a copy of an image does not carry with it the right to make additional copies or publish such images. Permission to publish must be obtained in writing from the Director of the Middle East Centre. When applying for permission to publish please fill our our Application form for Permission to Publish Images (Word document)
Book Illustration
Non Exclusive World Rights | Non Exclusive World Rights including use in leaflets and poster publicity advertising book | |
Thumbnail image | £12.00 | Not applicable |
Quarter page | £24.00 | £ 60.00 |
Half page | £30.00 | £ 90.00 |
Whole page | £45.00 | £135.00 |
Front Cover/Wrap - around : Double these rates
Please note that the above prices include VAT
Non Exclusive World Rights | |
Television/Satellite | £60.00 |
Open University 8 broadcasts | £20.40 |
Open University 12 broadcasts | £27.60 |
Please note that the above prices include VAT
School Text Books Material used for school text books will be charged at half the standard rate.
Images of documents and photographs can only be exhibited subject to copyright being cleared in the material. The exhibition fee is £18 per image (including VAT) and licenses are issued for a specific exhibition up to 5 years in length. High resolution digital copies are £6 per image (including VAT) and are scanned to order. Images should be credited to the Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, Oxford.
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