2-913-808 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Encampment of the Grenadier Guards, at Constantinople - from a daguerreotype by J. Robertson, 1854. Scene from the Crimean War: British soldiers in Turkey. 'The Sketch portrays some officers of the Grenadiers Guards listening to one of those interminable tales, related by a professional story-teller who has managed to find his way within the boundaries of the camp. The presence of these gentlemen is more to be attributed to a laudable desire of benefiting themselves by their recitations, than from hope of affording any extensive amount of gratification to their listeners. The scene is taken in the vicinity of Constantinople, and the rows of dark cypress trees rising in the background, announce their proximity to the final resting-places of the "true believers [Muslim graveyard]".' From "Illustrated London News", 1854.