Renowned photographer and historian Kadir Kaba has published History of Cypriot Photography 1839–1939. The Story of the Century, a volume that establishes 1849 as the date of the first known photograph taken on the island. The book presents newly discovered images, including a daguerreotype of George J. Skyrianides kept in a family album, and details the work of foreign and local Greek, Turkish and Armenian photographers who documented Cyprus in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Born in Mora, Kaba’s interest in photography began at age six and developed during training and work in London, where he studied at Paddington College and worked in darkrooms. He returned to north Nicosia in 1982, ran a studio until 2002, and later opened a gallery in the Buyuk Han while teaching and conducting archival research. His book, published by CPG Cypriot Photographers’ Gallery, compiles years of research across family archives and newspapers and is available from Moufflon Bookshop.