The Yeni Cami by moonlight.
Image: Library of Congress
These postcards of the capital (then known as Constantinople) of the Ottoman Empire at the close of the 19th century were produced using the Photochrom process. The technique applies layers of artificial color to a black and white image with surprisingly realistic results.
Photochrom was developed in the 1880s by an employee of a Swiss printing company and involves coating a lithographic limestone tablet with a photosensitive emulsion and exposing it to light under a photo negative.
The exposure causes the emulsion to harden in proportion to the tones of the negative, forming a fixed lithographic image on the stone.
Additional litho stones are prepared for each tint to be used in the final color image. A single color postcard might end up requiring over a dozen different tint stones.
The end product of the painstaking process is color images with a surprising degree of verisimilitude, particularly during an era when true color photography was in its infancy.
Galata Bridge and a view of Pera.
Image: Library of Congress
The fountain of Sultan Ahmed.
Image: Library of Congress
A mosque and street market.
Image: Library of Congress
Near the Seraskerat (Ministry of War).
Image: Library of Congress
Cypresses along the road to the cemetery.
Image: Library of Congress
Barbers near Seraskerat.
Image: Library of Congress
The Golden Horn waterway.
Image: Library of Congress
Image: Library of Congress
The district of Scutari.
Image: Library of Congress
The neighborhood of Fenerbahçe.
Image: Library of Congress
Galata Bridge.
Image: Library of Congress
The Bosphorus, Rumeli and Anadali-Hissar.
Image: Library of Congress
A cook in the Rue de Stamboul.
Image: Library of Congress
The Koca Sinan Pasha complex.
Image: Library of Congress
The Scutari district.
Image: Library of Congress
The harbor of Constantinople.
Image: Library of Congress
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