This groundbreaking work is a privileged insight into the beliefs, culture, and traditions of Northern Africa during the  golden age of travel . The century that spanned from 1850 1950 was host to the golden age of travel and the exposure of an increasing number of Westerners to foreign cultures. The Maghreb was a source of exotic fascination and people grew particularly enchanted by the land, people, and cultures of countries such as Morocco,Tunisia, and Algeria.Vintage Orientalist Photographs pays homage to the ultimate travel dream of that era . This collection of more than 100 autochrome, sepia, and black and white photographs captures delicate, lost details: the dusty, labyrinthine walls of the casbah; the dappled sunlight on the market stall of a souk; the intricate metal work of traditional j e we l ry. Each image is accompanied by an informative text that situates the photo in its historical reality, revealing how, for example, the richness of Algerian embroidery is the product not of hermetic tradition, as once perceived, but of an innovative fusion of Spanish, Turkish, and native cultures. This book s haunting photographs and incisive texts vividly render all the mystery, the beauty, and also the naiveté of the West s encounter with a culture it found so radically different from its own.