"Impressions of Iraq" compiled by L. Wells of RAF Hinaidi

Text from description by Voyager Press: "Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Zawita, Dohuk, Hinaidi, 1929­1930. Album of photographs taken and acquired by an RAF officer who served in Iraq, being stationed at the RAF General Hospital in Hinaidi, featuring many excellent scenes of the different types of inhabitants working and living together in the then British controlled territory. Oblong 8vo. string­tied album, blue and silver patterned cloth boards, measuring approximately 34,5 x 25,5 x 2 cm. With artistically illustrated title page comprised of hand trimmed and tinted photographs, elegant hand drawn ornamentation, gilded RAF logo and "Impressions of Iraq" in manuscript. Contains 152 gelatin silver print photographs, neatly organized, with manuscript captions in a meticulous hand, mounted with corners onto black cardstock leaves. Together with a manuscript list of staff from the RAF General Hospital at Hinaidi to accompany a group photograph. Photographs vary in size, the smallest measuring approximately 6,5 x 9 cm, and the largest 20,5 x 16 cm. Very Good Condition, a superlative visual chronicle of life in Iraq under British rule, only two years before the Kingdom of Iraq was established with full independence in 1932. $1,500 USD The photographer and author of the present album served with the "British Forces in Iraq" RAF Command, though he is not identified by name. Mounted to the rear pastedown, is a photograph of a caricature styled menu which had been hand drawn by a colleague in Iraq in 1929, reveals that he was attached to the Royal Aircraft Medical Service (RAFMS), his rank Leading Aircraftman (LAC), serving at RAF General Hospital, Hinaidi. At the time, RAF Habbaniya was a cantonment in the form of a tent camp, officially called RAF Dhibban, with services such as the hospital being under construction and expansion. Royal Air Force Station Habbaniya would be a fully operational site from October 1936 to 31 May 1959. [Air Headquarters was initially situated in the Old British Residency in Baghdad. The officers were accommodated in various messes in Baghdad and the airmen in a compound at Southgate. In December 1928 the Headquarters moved from Baghdad to RAF Hinaidi Cantonment and was located in one block of the original RAF General Hospital buildings. Apart from the Air Officer Commanding's staff mess, all the AHQ personnel were then accommodated at RAF Hinaidi. Under the Anglo­Iraqi treaty of June 1930, the RAF agreed to withdraw from Hinaidi and Mosul within five years of Iraqi Independence. A reduced force was to reside at Sin el Dhibban approximately sixty miles from Baghdad. Construction for the new camp named RAF Dhibban had begun in 1934 and from 1936 flying squadrons were based there. In January 1937 Air Headquarters and the personnel moved from RAF Hinaidi Cantonment to the newly built RAF Dhibban, which was officially renamed RAF Habbaniya on 31 May 1938. The Air Officer Commanding then lived in Air House at Habbaniya.

Arab, Assyrian and Kurdish customs and trades are captured in numerous snapshot photographs, illustrating the cultural diversities of the people groups inhabiting Iraq, from as far north as the Dohuk region in Kurdistan, to the bustling center of Baghdad, Basra in the south, and the small villages in between. The album begins in Baghdad, providing an aerial snapshot of the city, as well as views of the tomb of Sit Zobaida, the golden domes and minarets of the al­ Kadhimiya Mosque, an arched entrance gate to a native village, local boats and buildings on the bank of the Tigris, the Haydar­Khana Mosque which had been utilized in the 1920s as an assembly place for revolutionaries, the ancient ruins of the Archway of Ctesiphon, the elite Alwiyah social club which had opened in 1921 and continues to operate today, the Memorial to Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude erected to commemorate the conquering of Baghdad in 1917, the Maude bridge, and more. The officer travelled with the Royal Air Force to Mosul, and in desolate regions of Iraqi Kurdistan, throughout the Dohuk region, passed Sawita [Zawita] a vast region primarily inhabited by Kurds, secondly by Assyrians though at the time little­inhabited at all, owing to Turkey's Massacre of the Assyrians during World War One. An image of three nomadic men travelling in this desolate place is captioned "Kurdish tribesmen" and serves to remind us of the short­lived Kingdom of Kurdistan proclaimed as a semi­independent state within Mesopotamia [Iraq], which lasted from September 1922 until July 1924, and which would result in special rights for Kurds. [The British Royal Air Force's Iraq Command acting on behalf of the Iraqi government in Baghdad played a part in bringing the Kingdom of Kurdistan to an end.] It also illustrates the massive displacement of the Assyrian community. It is also a melancholic foreshadow to the Simele massacre which would take place some three years later, an attack on sixty­three Assyrian villages in the Dohuk and Mosul districts which led to the deaths of some 5,000 or more Assyrians. The views of Mosul are most nostalgic, with its pristine clay rooftops, meandering dirt roads, wooden footbridge, and the ancient mosque and minaret of Nebi Yunus. Much of these were recently destroyed by modern­day terrorizing oppressors, making these photographs even more historically significant. In the city of Basra we find rare photographs of the docks at the port of Margil and the RAF combined hospital, as well as a street nicknamed by the English as "The Strand" which followed Ashar Creek. Glimpses of architecture and antiquity are shown with views of a mosque and Ezra's Tomb on the western shore of the Tigris. Other places visited or trodden through include Zobiar [Zubair, in the Basra Governorate] where he captures a group of men sitting outside a mosque, Hillah in central Iraq where three views show the different types of boats on the Euphrates river, and Amara in the east, here observing another mosque. The town of Amara was captured by the British in 1915, and was reputed for its feudal system with local estate­holders maintaining private militias prior to the revolution of 1958. Remarkable photographs show the locals going about their regular lives and working their trades in traditional fashion. Land transportation was by mule or camel, as in ancient times. Watercraft see here include mid­sized river boats for merchants or fishermen, and the round Arab boat called "guffa." Images show a dhurzi [tailor], a butcher, a water carrier donning a large leather sack of sorts and another transporting water in a two­oxen cart, a fruit merchant, a date crusher and date merchants, a silversmith, craftsmen making all sorts of household implements, a farmer plowing his field, fishermen, and a chowkidar [watchman or gatekeeper]. The contrast in women's societal role is quite perceptible; Arab women are frequently seen covered in full burkhas and employed only in cooking or fetching water while Kurdish and Assyrian women are involved in more arduous labours such as fishing and grinding corn. Indigenous crowds participate in the Muharram festival. Although it is apparent that the officer was most intrigued by the ways of life in this ancient land previously foreign to him, he concludes the album with some seldom seen views of his medical work. Exceedingly rare photographs show interior rooms of the RAF General Hospital at Hinaidi in 1929­1930 including the bacteriological department, pathological ward, and medicine making laboratory, as well as a large patient's ward. In addition, a handful of views suggest a tour of Babylon was made by a group of officers, showing the remains of Ishtar Gate, and the Lion of Babylon while still under excavation. [Excavation of the Lion of Babylon, a 2600 year­old black basalt statue of a lion trampling a man, had begun only a few years before (circa 1917­1920) this snapshot was taken. Carved on a trapezium platform, it is among the most celebrated archaeological artifacts in the history of modern Mesopotamia since its discovery by local villagers in the early 20th Century. The irony is that the basalt statute does not seem to be of Mesopotamian or Babylonian origin despite the fact that it was unearthed in the heart of the ancient city of Babylon. Most archaeologists believe that the statue is a leftover from the Hittites' presence in Babylon who sacked the city in the 2nd millennium BC. The lion is associated in Mesopotamian and Kurdish mythology, both with Nergal, the god of death and of war, and with Ishtar, the goddess of love, who, in several cults, has two faces: love and life on the one hand, war and death on the other. The U.S. Library of Congress Matson collection holds a 1932 photograph of the Lion of Babylon which shows that excavation continued after this album's snapshot view, further revealing its base.] One aerial view shows the Imam Azim mosque in Persia, when it was surrounded by lush landscaping and tall trees [also known as the Shah­Abdol­Azim shrine, situated in present­day Tehran province, Iran.

British occupation of Mesopotamia (1914­1922) In 1914, the British invaded Iraq (then part of Mesopotamia) to protect their oil interests and what began as a very limited military expedition resulted in a 44 year military/political involvement, during which they fought a 12 year insurgency. Their involvement suffered from intelligence failures, Sunni­Shia rivalry, a Kurdish independence movement, a weak central government, looting and crime, inadequate infrastructure, and so on. Known as the Mesopotamian Campaign, fighting commenced with the Battle of Basra in 1914 and continued for the duration of the war. The most notable action was the Siege of Kut, which resulted in the surrender of the British and British Indian Army garrison of the town in April 1916, after a siege of 147 days. Of 11,800 Allied soldiers who survived to be made prisoners; 4,250 died of disease or at the hands of their Ottoman guards during captivity. Following the British occupation of Mosul Vilayet in 1918 after the First World War, with the assistance of British political and military officers, Sheikh Mahmoud established a Kurdish government in Sulaimaniya. This first Kurdish government initially had authority on Kirkuk but was soon challenged by British officers to strip the city along with other localities in southern Kurdistan out of the Sulaimaniya government. Sheikh Mahmoud responded by rising against British forces in southern Kurdistan, and thus began the first Kurdish Uprising in Sulaimaniya against British forces in May 1919, mainly due to who controlled Kirkuk, which is today's centre of the northern Iraqi petroleum industry The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or Mandatory Iraq was created in 1921 following the 1920 Iraqi Revolt against the proposed British Mandate for Mesopotamia, and was enacted via the 1922 Anglo­Iraqi Treaty. Faisal ibn Husayn, who had been proclaimed King of Syria by a Syrian National Congress in Damascus in March 1920, was granted the territory of Iraq by the British. He was to rule it as a kingdom, with the British RAF retaining certain military control, though de facto. The territory remained under British administration until 1932. The civil government of postwar Iraq was headed originally by the High Commissioner, Sir Percy Cox, and his deputy, Colonel Arnold Wilson. British reprisals after the murder of a British officer in Najaf failed to restore order. The most striking problem facing the British was the growing anger of the nationalists, who continued to fight against the imposition of British authority. British administration had yet to be established in Kurdistan Region in Iraq. The Kurds also lost their ancestral lands and were annexed to accommodate the interests of the British. This was also the case in Kurds of Turkey, Iran and Syria. Mesopotamia refers to the area of the Tigris­Euphrates river system, and corresponds to modern­day Iraq, the northeastern section of Syria and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey, smaller parts of southwestern Iran and Kuwait. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization in the West, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern­day Iraq.

Royal Air Force Station Habbaniya, more commonly known as RAF Habbaniya, (originally RAF Dhibban) was a Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, about 55 miles (89 km) west of Baghdad in modern day Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates near Lake Habbaniyah. It was operational from October 1936 until 31 May 1959 when the British were finally withdrawn following the July 1958 Revolution. The base was extensive and included the Air Headquarters of RAF Iraq Command, maintenance units, an aircraft depot, an RAF hospital, RAF Iraq Levies barracks, the RAF Armoured Car Company depot as well as fuel and bomb stores. There were numerous billets, messes and a wide range of leisure facilities including swimming pools, cinemas and theatres, sports pitches, tennis courts and riding stables. It was self­contained with its own power station, water purification plant and sewage farm. Within the base was the Civil Cantonment for the civilian workers and their families and the families of the RAF Iraq Levies. Water taken from the Euphrates for the irrigation systems enabled green lawns, flower beds and even ornamental Botanical Gardens. After World War II the families of British personnel started living at Habbaniya and a school was started"