Félix Bonfils
![Photo of an Arab man with a pipe, taken by Félix Bonfils.](/Images/godic/202501/01/Arabpipe5724.jpg")
![A photograph taken by Bonfils of Bedouin women carrying their children.](/Images/godic/202501/01/Beduin_mothers_carrying_their_children_on_their_shoulders5724.jpg")
Félix Bonfils (8 March 1831 – 1885) was a French photographer and writer who was active in the Middle East.
He was born in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort and died in Alès. Félix worked as a bookbinder but in 1860 he joined General d'Hautpoul's expedition to the Levant. Soon after returning from Lebanon he became a photographer. When his son Adrien fell ill, Félix remembered the green hills around Beirut and sent him there to recover, being accompanied by Marie-Lydie Cabanis Bonfils, Félix's wife. The family moved to Beirut in 1867 where they opened a photographic studio called "Maison Bonfils".