The photographer Pascal Sébah was the son of a Christian Syrian father and an Armenian mother. He opened his first photography studio in 1857 in Istanbul (Cazentre, 2013, p. 238). Since 1860, it was located on the Grand Rue de Péra 439 in Pera, the district where most of Istanbul’s photography studios were based in the 19th century (Çelik/Eldem, 2015, pp. 18–19). Sébah’s atelier served several genres, from architecture and city views, which were mostly images of Istanbul, to the depiction of figures in traditional costumes and street vendors. In addition to large-format albumen prints, Sébah’s photographic prints involved other formats popular at the time, such as 360-degree panoramic images of Istanbul and stereoscopic images. (Öztuncay, 2015, p. 84 / Cazentre, 2013, p. 238). In 1873, Sébah opened his first branch in Cairo with a focus on portraits of local clients and views of Egypt for tourists. (Cazentre, 2013, p. 238).

After his death in 1886, his son Jean Pascal Sébah (1872–1947) continued to work as photographer under the name J. P. Sébah, and in 1887, the firm Sébah & Joillier was founded as partnership between Jean Pascal Sébah and Polycarpe Joaillier (1848–1904), a French photographer living in Istanbul (Cazentre, 2013, p. 240 / Öztuncay, 2015, p. 84).

Cazentre, T. (2013). Potographes du Caire dans le dernier tiers du XIXe siècle. Les ateliers commerciaux. In M. Volait (Ed.), Le Caire dessiné et photographié au XIXe siècle (pp. 227–244). Picard.

Çelik, Z. & Eldem, E. (Eds.) (2015). Camera Ottomana. Photography and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire 1840–1914. Koç University Press.

Öztuncay, B. (2015). The Origins and Development of Photography in Istanbul. In Z. Çelik & E. Eldem (Eds.), Camera Ottomana. Photography and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire 1840–1914 (pp. 66–105). Koç University Press.

Behdad, A. (2016). Camera Orientalis. Reflections on Photography of the Middle East. The University of Chicago Press.