Louis-Hugues Vincent, a Dominican priest and professor at the École Biblique et Archéologique in Jerusalem, and Captain E. J. H. Mackay, the British inspector-in-chief of antiquities in Palestine, conducted an exhaustive survey of the Machpelah, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, at Hebron. They presented their findings in 1920 to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris. The resulting publication, entitled Hebron—Le Haram el-Khalíl—Sépulture des Patriarches (Hebron—The Haram el-Khalil—Tomb of the Patriarchs) (Paris: éditions Ernest Leroux, 1923) appeared in two folio-sized volumes text with figures, and plates. In this article, the plan, drawing and black-and-white photographs are reproduced from the unbound, engraved plates of the 1923 folio edition. The original glass negatives of the photographs were transferred to the plates through a process of acid etching. If the people in the picture of the cupola look as if they have been drawn, it is because the original photographs have been altered by the engraver. Early 20th-century emulsion required such long exposures that it was almost impossible for people to remain still long enough without appearing blurred in the final print. Because people expected to see figures in the pictures, it was common to alter the final lithographic plate by additional hand etching. Although the photographs were monochromatic, the lithographic process used produced an unusually subtle range of color and tone. In order to provide the best possible reproduction of these engravings, BAR has treated them as if they were full color pictures.
