The 42 hand-tinted photographs that make up the core of this electronic publication were scanned in from an early Bahá'í publication whose title page states: "Views of Acca, Haifa, Mt. Carmel, and Other Places," published by the Bahá'í Publishing Society, Chicago, U.S.A. The exact title and publication date of this work has never been firmly established in the various bibliographies that have been produced over the years. For example: The "Bahá'í World", Vol. 17 (1976-79), p. 572 gives a close approximation to the actual title page: "Views of Acca, Haifa, Mount Carmel and Other Holy Places". It states the book was published in 1918 in "paper, cloth and leather."
One of the things which makes this book so extraordinary, besides its age, historical importance, and the coloring of the pictures is that `Abdu'l-Bahá approved the images Himself. The title page declares: "THESE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE DULY AUTHORIZED BY ABDU'L-BAHA AND ARE PLACED IN THIS FORM FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO LONG TO SEE "THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH."
The book's earliest mention may be the one that appears on page 2 of "Star of the West", Volume II, No. 13 (November 4, 1911). Under a display ad giving the "Price List of Publications of the Bahai Revelation" this item is given: "Portfolio of Views of [the] Holy Land ......1.00". On page 2 of "Star of the West" (Vol. III, No. 2, April 9, 1912) a full page ad appears announcing that "The Bahai Publishing Society has just issued a handsome new edition of the Album of Views" which is "bound in elegant cloth covers with gold letters" for the sum of $1.25. (All the photos in this Diversity Press edition were taken from the 1912 cloth bound edition.) The non-deluxe editions were bound with pasteboard covers.
The photographs themselves reveal that some were taken at least as early as 1903 and others as late as 1911. The 1903 dating is derived from the fact that the 18th Apostle of Bahá'u'lláh, Mullá Zaynu'l-Ábidín, surnamed Zaynu'l-Muqarrabín (he appears in photos 41 and 42) died in1903. (See his biography in "Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh.", pp. 274-276.) The 1911 date is taken from photograph 40 of `Abdu'l-Bahá which was originally taken in Paris in 1911 and was first published on page 2 of "Star of the West," Vol. II, No. 14 (November 23, 1911). Its caption states that "This photograph was selected by Abdul-Baha from several taken in Paris, recently, and permission granted to circulate it."
This writer believes this book originally appeared in pasteboard covers in late 1911 and in cloth covers sometime in April, 1912. Its electronic publication has been called an "Album of Views" after the "Star of the West" announcement of 1912, while realizing its real title, taken from the title page of the clothbound edition is "Views of Acca, Haifa, Mt. Carmel and Other Places".
The purpose of the newly-researched commentary is to correct and enrich the original commentary. There has been no attempt to be exhaustive in researching the photographs that appear in the "Album of Views." The aim is to enable users to learn a bit about each image and to get a lead or two about where additional information might be gleaned. In general, the user is advised to consult "The Bahá'í Holy Places at the World Centre", "Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1968" and various editions of "The Bahá'í World" under the section titled "International Survey of Current Bahá'í Activities" - especially volumes 13 -18. Also extremely useful are H.M. Balyuzi's biographies of the "The Báb", "Bahá'u'lláh: The King of Glory", "`Abdu'l-Bahá" and Adib Taherzadeh's works on "The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh" (Vols. 3 and 4) and "The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh".
Diversity Press extends its deep gratitude to Auxiliary Board Member for Propagation, Erica Toussaint, for lending her rare copy, originally owned by Amelia P. Jacobson, for use in creating this special work.
- Duane Troxel, Golden, Colorado, USA 12/19/94
As the author of this web gallery, I wish to make it clear that I am responsible only for the HTML programming of these web pages. The old and new commentaries, the scanned images and the introductory passages were all the works of Duane Troxel and other Bahá'ís. I merely took what is essentially public domain material and put it together in a web document.
For best results, use Netscape 1.1N or better. If your browser does not support the alignment conventions used by Netscape 1.1N, please be aware that the commentaries and pictures may not align properly. In addition, the commentaries and pictures were aligned to be viewed under the best conditions, so, expand your browser window as wide as possible.
- Raymond Ng Tong Leng