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Suez Canal Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
This collection primarily documents the financial concerns that arose following the completion of the Suez Canal regarding its administration, through the lens of the Tonnage Conferences of 1872. There are also materials documenting the Suez Canal's depiction and place in travel, tourism, and world trade in the late 19th century into the 20th century. To a lesser extent are materials documenting some of the development and construction by the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez. The materials are primarily in French and English, with a few documents in Arabic.
This collection consists of printed materials such as pamphlets, leaflets, and a published travel diary, as well as planning and reporting documents, including print and manuscript maps, diagrams, reports, notes, and accounts. There are also visual materials such as photographs, which include cabinet cards, cartes de visite, and photograph album pages; ephemera, such as menu cards, brochures, newspaper clippings, postcards, and souvenirs; and caricature print illustrations. There are two logbooks from the H.M.S. Royal Oak, one of the British ships present the day of the Suez Canal's opening ceremony.
Materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the dealer. The dealer had organized materials loosely by material type and size.
Purchased from Voyager Press Books & Manuscripts in April 2023 (AM 2025-009).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Amy C. Vo in 2024. Finding aid written by Amy C. Vo in 2024, incorporating some dealer-supplied description. Loose items were placed in new acid-free folders according to the groupings they arrived in. These were then labeled with archivist-designated titles, some of which was based on dealer-supplied description. Materials were housed in new acid-free boxes and folders, with spacers where necessary.
People
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Amy C. Vo
- Finding Aid Date
- 2024
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
A presentation copy of the published travel diary by Frederick William, Kaiser Friedrich III, "Tagebuch meiner Reise nach dem Morgenlande," inscribed to his cousin, Marie of Orange-Nassau. In 1869, the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick William was invited by Ismail Pasha to the inauguration of the Suez Canal. A very small number of copies of this travel diary was printed.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of four brief letters, including a letter from Edme-François Jomard regarding Mougel Bey, the director of work on the Suez Canal; a letter from Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Strachey about travel between London and Calcutta; a letter from Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin to Emile de Girardin; and a letter from Thomas Fletcher Waghorn to Mr. Hannay.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes a draft contract between partners with the calculation of the cost of the Suez Canal project, as prepared by Auguste Colin; a shipping receipt issued at Port Saïd to Captain Lawrence of the British steamer Bertha, with newspaper clippings pasted on the reverse; a report by the British House of Commons on the Suez Canal Tonnage Dues; a report by the British Parliament on the Purchase of Shares for the Suez Canal; a packet of Compagnie Universelle du Canal de Suez documents containing diagrams and plans drawn up by J. M. Cazaux and signed off by François Philippe Voisin Bey; a "carte générale de l'isthme" by the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of printed and manuscript material pertaining to the Question du Tonnage conferences of 1872. Materials include manuscript notes by François Philippe Voisin Bey; a printed report of "Affaires Étrangères, Documents Diplomatiques: Affaire du Canal de Suez"; issues and extracts from Le Canal des Deux Mers and Gazette du Tribunaux newspapers; and printed material related to the shareholders of the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, such as reports, leaflets, pamphlets, etc.
Physical Description6 folders
Ephemera relating to Ferdinand de Lesseps consisting of menu cards, calling cards, invitations, and newspaper clippings.
Physical Description1 folder
A report prepared by François Philippe Voisin-Bey on a series of conferences that he organized concerning the construction of the Suez Canal held at the Ecole des ponts et chaussées in Paris. The report includes six lithographic plates, including a map of the Isthmus of Suez, a plan of the port, and diagrams of dredgers and excavators. This presentation copy from Voisin-Bey was inscribed "à Monsieur le comte de Gontaut."
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of a medal by O. Roty commemorating the opening of the Suez Canal; a set of six Liebig reward cards featuring illustrations of the Suez Canal; three souvenir leporello albums; four souvenir booklets of postcards; and a group of ten postcards, some of which contain correspondence.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of nine cartes de visite of portraits and equipment, such as of canal dredgers and steamers. The portraits are mainly of Ferdinand de Lesseps, with one portrait of Ahmed Urabi (captioned as Arabi Pasha). There is one autograph quotation of de Lesseps' motto, "aperire terram gentibus," with his signature.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of a pamplet of the By-Laws of the Ataka Chapter No. 3367; a souvenir leporello album with views of Port Said and the Suez Canal; "Hamltion's Grand Diorama of the New Overland Route to India" booket; a Aberdeen & Commonwealth Line brochure about the Suez Canal; a Tory political leaflet for electors on Suez Canal shares; a catalog of the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez's exhibition at the Exposition Universelle of 1867 in Paris, France; a souvenir book of views of Port Said and the Suez Canal.
Physical Description1 folder
Two logbooks kept by Midshipman E. D. St. A. Ommanney on board the H.M.S. Royal Oak, each with daily information regarding time, course, wind, barometric readings, repairs, maps, charts, and other remarks during its course across the Mediterranean. It was one of the five British ships that assembled for the opening of the Suez Canal.
Physical Description1 box
Consists of pages from photograph albums, as well as a composite commemorative albumen photograph comprising scenes of the canal, a photographed map, and portraits of people involved in its development. The photographs from the various photo albums consist of 22 albumen photographs of the Suez Canal and its environs, including scenes depicting dredgers, ships (such as the Malabar), Port Said, and laborers at work. Some of the photographs have photographers signatures, with several photographs being attributed to Zangaki, and a couple to P. Peridis.
Physical Description3 folders
Consists of four Vanity Fair caricatures and one Reynolds & Co. caricature. The Vanity Fair illustrations include: "He suppressed an isthmus" of Ferdinand de Lesseps from the "Men of the Day" series (no. 2); "The ex-Khedive" of Ismail Pasha from the "Statesmen" series (no. 360); "Ahmed Arabi the Egyptian" of Ahmed Urabi from the "Men of the Day" series (no. 271); and "The Khedive" of Pasha Muhammed Tewfik from the "Men of the Day" series (no. 273). The Reynolds & Co. illustration is of "A Grand Old Confidence Trick" by G. Bridgman.
Physical Description2 folders