
A vast collection of early photographs of Jerusalem and the Holy Land has been sold for almost £1 MILLION in one of the 'most memorable' sales of travel images.

The stunning collection, which is made up of more than 1,000 black and white images, date back as far as 1840 when photography was still in its infancy.

It consisted of some of Jerusalem's most historic landmarks including Mount Zion, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jewish cemetery.

This is one of the 1,000 black and white photographs which formed part of the £1 million collection of images of Jerusalem from the 1850s

The collection, which was sold by Sotheby's was assembled over a period of 25 years by a man with an interest in the area

The collection features some of the earliest photographs ever taken of the Holy Land from the mid 19th century

The photographs, which straddle genres and subject matter, give an extraordinary glimpse into the lives of people living in the region during the 19th Century.

It includes photos of Bedouins, Muslim worshippers, mosques and monuments as well as stunning landscapes.

The collection had been assembled over 25 years by a gentleman who wanted to assemble the finest example of photographs taken in one of the most politically, culturally and religiously important areas of the world.

Described as being of 'great historical significance', the collection was auctioned off by Sotheby's at its Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History sale in London.

The auction house had given the photographs a lower estimate of £300,000 - but a tense battle between two anonymous phone bidders resulted in it selling for £960,000.

Richard Fattorini, a travel books specialist at Sotheby's, today described it as 'one of the most memorable' auctions he had been involved in.

He said: 'It was a tremendous price but the people involved in bidding recognised there were some great treasures taken by some of the most celebrated photographers.

According to Sotheby's who sold the photographs, there are more images taken every two minutes now than during the entire 19th century

This image of the Wailing Wall from 1870 is believed to be one of the earliest photographs of Jewish people praying at the location

According to Sotheby's, the entire collection was expected to sell for approximately £300,000 but two bidders trebled the hammer price

This image overlooking the Sea of Galilee was taken in the 1860s and is one of the first ever recorded images from the area

This is a photograph by the acclaimed pioneering photographer George Bridges who had nine images in the collection

'Every two minutes more photographs are taken around the world than there were in the whole of the 19th Century.

'Photographs from this period are rare and this was the largest single collection of photographs to appear at auction

'I imagine there are some libraries and institutions around the world with collections but this has to be the finest in private hands.

'There is a strong demand for early travel images and for this lot there was global interest.'

The collection included nine original photographs from George Bridges, who was among the earliest photographers to use William Fox Talbot's calotype process for taking pictures. This meant he could create a negative that could be turned into multiple prints.

There were also photographs taken in surrounding areas including Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.

Richard added: 'The owner had assembled them over 25 years, buying them at auctions around the world.

'There was global interest and at the start there were five people bidding..

'The sale went on for between five and ten minutes with two telephone bidders, bidding against each other in £50,000 increments. It was tense and there was a great sense of drama.

'There is a strong demand for early travel images and this was among the record prices.

'To have sold a collection like this was a great privilege and it is one of the most memorable sales I have been involved in during my 16 years at Sotheby's.'

The collection, which was assembled over a quarter of a century attracted five bidders who quickly increased the price of the images