SAUDI ARABIA.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Thirteen original snapshot photographs taken at Mahasin. A collection of ground and aerial shapshots apparently taken by a Saudi Aramco manager stationed at the Mahasin camp just outside al-Hofuf, showing the site's early years, several scenes of local life, and the drilling rig. Collectively, the images provide a window onto the early years of Saudi Arabia's development. Seven images depict the camp itself, including one picture taken from atop the radio tower, overlooking the barracks, mess halls, powerhouse, water trucks and wells. The structures are all surrounded by black lines, which, the annotations to the verso of the image inform us, are "oil to keep the scorpions and snakes out - we hope". Other snapshots show the view up to the top of the radio mast, the view down to ground, and a panorama across to the nearest town, presumably al-Mubarraz. One picture shows the drilling rig with cars in front and a crane to the right.The remaining six images were taken at leisure and show a rocky outcrop, several camels, locusts on the fender of a jeep, local camel drivers, and a view from a water tank in an oasis. Accompanying the photographs is a handwritten note from two Aramco employees to a "Mr Canady", perhaps the photographer. The employees complain of a colleague who is proposing to charge the company rent for the use of a dysfunctional bulldozer leased by the Bin Laden company. Muhammad Bin Laden was Saudi Arabia's most successful construction magnate of the mid-20th cent

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