This catalog, which is not timed with the anniversary of any major photographic event, comprises largely recent books on nineteenth-century photography and its practitioners. It commences, however, with two small sections, of books with actual photographs tipped in, and loose, original photographs, mostly the ubiquitous albumen print. I do have more travel pictures that did not make it into the catalog, so please let me know if you are after something in particular.
Books with Actual Photographs
(Images supplied on request)
- BRADY, Mathew B. Illustrations of Longfellow’s Courtship of Miles Standish by John W. Ehninger, New York: Rudd & Carleton, 1859. Hardcover (gold-stamped green leather), 9 ¾ x 12 inches, 50 pages, 8 mounted salt prints, gilt edges.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s short narrative poem about Mayflower pilgrims in early Colonial days. Brady’s images are after illustrations by Ehninger, not made from life. They show Miles Standish speaking to, leading, and otherwise interacting with fellow settlers and Native Americans, and, finally, at the wedding procession with his Purtian bride, Priscilla. Known as “Mr. Lincoln’s cameraman,” Mathew Brady (1823-1896) operated portrait studios in New York and Washington, D.C., beginning in the 1840s. He is best known for his photographic record of the Civil War during the 1860s and his portraits of famous public figures such as Lincoln, P. T. Barnum, and Walt Whitman. This title is an early example of a photographically illustrated book, published only twenty years after the announcement of the daguerreotype. Previous owner’s inscription, endpapers rubbed, and covers worn along edges. $500
- BROWN, Arthur. Tennyson’s Brook, Illustrated by Arthur Brown with Photographic Views, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England: Arthur Brown, 1879. Folder (gold-stamped green cloth), 10 ½ x 8 ¼ inches, 13 mounted woodburytypes.
The photographer explains in a printed sheet that he decided to publish this portfolio after Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote him in thanks after receiving a set of prints that illustrated his thirteen-verse poem The Brook. Brown made the photographs along the Skelton Beck stream at Saltburn-by-the-Sea in Yorkshire. The images are rich, idyllic, and usually unpeopled. Tennyson’s verse, written from the stream’s viewpoint, ends, “And out again I curve and flow/To join the brimming river/For men may come and men may go/ But I go on forever.” The 4-x-3-inch prints are mounted on stiff printed boards. Mild wear to cover edges and tips. $500
- FRITH, Francis. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion: A Romance, Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1868. Hardcover (gold and black-stamped brown leather), 9 ½ x 7 ½ inches, 272 pages, 24 mounted albumen prints, gilt edges.
One of Longfellow’s earliest works (first published in 1839—the year photography was invented), Hyperion is a prose romance that follows an American traveling in Germany. Frith himself describes his “long and delightful journey” making the photographs for the book. His albumen prints, measuring about 5 x 6 ½ inches, show landscapes and city scenes shot along the Rhine River, in Switzerland, and the Tyrol. They depict bridges, cemeteries, castles, mills, cloisters, market places, and even a glacier. Francis Frith (1822-1898) was a top nineteenth-century English photographer, who ran Europe’s largest photographic printing business for decades. He was most renowned for his mammoth-plate images of Egypt, made in the late 1850s. See: Goldschmidt and Naef, The Truthful Lens, for a slightly earlier edition of Hyperion. This one has an attractive binding, which shows minimal wear to the edges and tips, with one free endpaper (attractive marbled paper) detached. $750
- FRITH, Francis (attribution). Sampson’s Guide to the City and Cathedral of York, York, England: John Sampson, 1889. Softcover, 7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches, 136 pages, one mounted albumen print.
As the title indicates, a guidebook to York, England, featuring engravings and a fold-out map. The albumen print on the cover (2 ½ x 2 inches) is not credited, but the very first page is a full-page advertisement for “Frith’s Photographs of York,” available at two locations in the city. The image is a straight-forward picture of the city’s massive cathedral, with its spires reaching toward the heavens. Cover and first signature detached, pieces of cover and spine missing. $50
- GARDNER, Alexander. Robert Burns, Tam O’ Shanter, New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1868. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown leather), 10 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 24 pages, 8 mounted albumen prints, gilt edges.
This popular poem tells the tale of a Scottish farmer getting drunk and riding home on his horse. At a church he encounters the devil, ghosts, and witches, which he barely escapes. E. H. Miller made the hand-drawn illustrations and Gardner photographed them, producing 5-x-7-inch albumen prints, along with a frontispiece portrait (after an engraving) of author Burns. Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) excelled as an operator at Mathew Brady’s studio, produced his important two-volume Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War (1866), and after the Civil War ran his own business, making portraits and illustrating literature, such as Tam O’ Shanter. While this copy is ex-library, the only marking is a well-designed label on the inside cover of colorful marbled paper. Previous owner’s name, with only tiny wear to cover edges and tips. $350
- GROSART, Alexander B. The Works of Michael Bruce, Edinburgh: William Oliphant, 1865. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 8 ½ x 7 inches, 264 pages, 10 mounted albumen prints.
Reverend Grosart selected and wrote about the work of Scottish poet Michael Bruce and provided a memoir. The uncredited albumen prints, about 4 ¼ x 3 inches in size, picture Bruce’s tombstone (frontispiece), a rock formation, trees, and village streets and building (all uncaptioned). Front and back hinges loose, with light wear to the covers. $250
- JONES, Nathaniel P. Daniel S. Durrie, A History of Madison, the Capital of Wisconsin; Including the Four Lake Country, Madison: Daniel S. Durrie, 1874. Hardcover (copper-stamped blue cloth), 9 x 6 inches, 420 pages, 19 mounted albumen prints.
Durrie, the librarian of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, covers the pre-history of Madison, its incorporation in 1856, its designation as state capital, and various other milestones. In the 1870 census, four years before the book was published, Madison’s population was 857 people, while today it is home to about 235,000. Among Jones’ subjects is Roseline Peck, the first woman settler, who arrived in 1837 with her husband. Most of the tipped-in albumen prints measure about 3 x 3 inches and are probably halves of stereo pairs. They show Main Street (from two different corners), Vilas House, Park Hotel, Hospital for the Insane, Grace and Congregational Churches, the U.S. Court House, and the Capitol building. Also noteworthy are views of Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, as downtown Madison is on an isthmus between the two bodies of water. Nathaniel P. Jones specialized in stereographs during the 1870s and was active from 1855 to about the turn of the twentieth century. Among the museums that own work by him is the Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth, Texas). Binding a little loose, covers worn, and missing small piece at bottom of spine. $750
- LANDY, James. The St. Louis Practical Photographer, November 1879 (vol. 3), one mounted albumen print.
The frontispiece of this issue of the magazine is a studio portrait by Landy of a baby, partially shrouded in lace and sitting on a sofa. In the article “Our Picture,” the editor proclaims that “Landy’s babies are known everywhere; laughing and crying, as well as the bull-dozing ones. This baby-making is quite a prominent part of his business.” The photographer wrote a short text indicating that he charged more for photographs of children than adults, as they took more time and effort to produce. The magazine includes numerous articles, regular columns, and advertisements with distinctive period typography; the albumen-print frontispiece is the only illustration. James Landy (1838-1897) began his portrait business in New York and then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he achieved a national reputation by the middle of the nineteenth century. Covers worn and missing a few small pieces. $100
- LOCK & WHITFIELD. Men of Mark: A Gallery of Contemporary Portraits, London: Sampson Low, Martson, Searle, and Rivington, 1876 and 1877. Hardcover (gold-stamped black and maroon leather and cloth), 10 ½ x 8 ½ inches, unpaginated, 72 mounted woodburytypes.
This volume contains the first and second series of seven, showing English and European men who were distinguished in government, religion, science, literature, art, military, law, and medicine. Thompson Cooper provides brief biographical notes on each subject. Among the impressive array of eminent Victorians are His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (first series frontispiece), Victor Hugo, Gustave Dore, and Jules Verne. The portraits were taken expressly for the publication and are presented as oval woodburytypes, each 4 ½ x 3 ½ inches, in a printed border. Samuel Lock and George Whitfield ran a London portrait studio from 1856 to 1894, and are most remembered for their contributions to Men of Mark. See: George Eastman House, Imagining Paradise. Occasional foxing, wear to cover edges and tips. $750
- MAULL & FOX. C. S. Ward, Hints on Driving, London: C. S. Ward, 1870. Softcover (gold-stamped red cloth over boards), 9 ½ x 7 ¾ inches, 24 pages, one mounted albumen print.
This is a primer on operating a horse-drawn coach, written by the “Well-known Whip of the West,” who explains eight rules of “driving,” including, most importantly, the use of the whip. The frontispiece is a studio portrait of a well-dressed driver with mutton-chops, in a top hat, holding a whip and straps (albumen print, 3 ½ x 2 ½ inches). Henry Maull (1829-1914) and John Fox (1832-1907) partnered during the 1870s and 1880s, making portraits of noted British subjects in their London studio. Previous owner’s name, first signature loose, mild foxing and browning, wear and spotting to the cover. $150
- MOFFAT, John. William Henry Gladstone, The Hawarden Visitor’s Hand-Book, Chester, England: Phillipson & Golder, 1890. Hardcover (black-stamped red cloth), 7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches, 40 pages, 2 mounted carbon prints.
This is Gladstone’s small guidebook to the Wales town of Hawarden. The frontispiece is a studio portrait of the author by Moffat, with a facsimile of Gladstone’s signature. The other carbon print is of Catherine Gladstone, presumably the author’s wife, by G. Watmough Webster, of Chester, showing her with a pen and book, also with her facsimile signature. The book includes hand-rendered illustrations of a few local sites and a fold-out map of Hawarden Park and the old castle. John Moffat (1819-1894) was a pioneering Scottish photographer, based in Edinburgh. He opened his first studio in 1853, was prominent in the Photographic Society of Scotland since its inception in 1856, and in 1864 made a successful photograph of William Henry Fox Talbot by magnesium light. Near fine condition. $100
- NARES, George S. Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1878. Hardcovers (gold and black-stamped green cloth), 2 volumes, 9 x 6 inches, 396 pages (each), 6 mounted woodburytypes.
Captain Nares’ account of the North Pole expedition of two English ships during the season of 1875-1876. In the preface he admits that they did not reach their goal and indicates that the photographs were made by paymaster F. Mitchell and engineer George White. The rich, full-page woodburytypes depict the ships ominously ensconced in snow and ice, at Floeberg Beach, Cape Beechey, and Discovery Bay (with pitched tents), and serenely afloat in Cape Prescott. Only one crew member appears in the photographs, standing on a floeberg and peering up at large-scale “pressed-up rubble ice.” In addition to the photographic illustrations are woodcuts, diagrams, and fold-out maps. Mounts of each frontispiece browned (due to tissue guard, but seemingly not affecting the prints), some loose signatures, and covers worn. Two volume set: $1,250
- POULTON, Samuel E. L. M. Wise, and Margaret Wrightson, Names We Love and Places We Know, London: Hazell, Watson, and Viney, 1890. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped brown cloth), 6 ¼ x 5 inches, 188 pages, 4 mounted albumen prints, gilt edges.
The subtitle of this book is “A Birthday Text-Book of Literary Gems with Local Photographs.” It features, for each day of the year, a short verse by the likes of Emerson and Longfellow and blank space to fill in the names and birth year of individuals. There are entries on most pages (four dates per page), with the oldest for a man who died in 1839. The four albumen prints (4 x 3 inches each) depict the cathedral of Sherbourne, England, from “Poulton’s Series.” The frontispiece is an elevated view from afar, the second image shows the full structure frontally, and the two remaining ones place it in the context of the surrounding domestic and commercial buildings. English photographer Samuel E. Poulton (1819-1898), also a publisher of photographic prints, was active from the 1850s to 1890s, in London and elsewhere. A copy of the book in Worldcat.org provided the author’s names and publication date, as they do not appear in this copy. An unusual item. Hinges a little loose, occasional foxing, and covers worn. $150
- ROCKWOOD, George G. Souvenirs des Opéras: Mose, il Barbiere Cenerentola, Semiramis, Pour Piano, Par Rossini, New York: W. H. Oakes, c. 1870. Softcover,
6 ¾ x 5 inches, 16 pages, one mounted albumen print.
This is a pamphlet of six scores by the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. The cover, with busy typography, features a portrait by Rockwood, rendered as an oval albumen print (2 x 1 ½ inches). Rossini, in heavy dark attire, confronts the camera with one hand tucked into his suitcoat. George G. Rockwood (1832-1911) took up photography in St. Louis in about 1853, the year he produced the first carte-de-visite in this country. A few years later he moved to New York, where he enjoyed years of success as a portrait photographer, claiming to have photographed over 300,000 individuals, including Horace Greeley and Edgar Allan Poe. Light wear to covers. $100
- TAUNT, Henry W. A New Map of the River Thames, From Thames Head to London, Oxford: Taunt & Company, 1886. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped brown cloth), 7 ½ x 7 inches, 282 pages, 98 mounted carbon prints. Stated fifth edition.
This is an extensive, heavily illustrated guidebook to the River Thames, from its source in Kemble to London, one hundred miles downriver. It features over thirty maps, scaled two inches to a mile, with nearly one hundred carbon prints of local scenes. The running text includes information about each area—local inns, camping, and fishing. The frontispiece depicts Taunt’s river boat, with his view camera on top and a seated woman. Preceding the title page, the first eight pages are devoted to the offerings of his photographic studio. A very successful handbook, first published with albumen prints in 1871. Professional photographer Henry W. Taunt (1842-1922) was based in Oxford, England, where he operated from 1868 to 1906. The Royal Geographical Society awarded him a fellowship for the cartography in A New Map of the River Thames. See: George Eastman House, Imagining Paradise. Occasional foxing and browning, covers worn. $500
- TOPLEY, William J. Views of Ottawa, Canada, Ottawa: Topley Studio,
- 1880. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 6 ½ x 4 ¼ inches, 12 mounted albumen prints.
These cabinet-size cards picture two winter recreational scenes (after paintings) and ten images from life. Unfortunately, there are no identifying captions, but most of the subjects are certainly federal government buildings, judging from their size and stature. A very interesting harbor view shows large stacks of lumber, and there is an interior view of a library and a picture of a water fall on a river. William James Topley (1846-1930) initially worked for the well-known Canadian photographer William Notman, beginning in 1864. By about 1875, he had established his own studio, which he ran until the 1920s. The Library and Archives of Canada owns 150,000 of Topley’s negatives, one of the country’s most important visual records of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The prints here are in decent shape, but the covers are worn and the fabric binding is all but gone, rendering the cards loose. $250
- WALLACE, Ellerslie. The Amateur Photographer: A Manual of Photographic Manipulation, Intended Especially for Beginners and Amateurs, With Suggestions as to the Choice of Apparatus and of Processes, Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown leather over boards), 7 ½ x 5 inches, 180 pages, one mounted albumen print. First edition.
The typically long nineteenth-century title indicates the breadth of this handbook. The chapters cover photographic apparatus, emulsions, developers, wet collodion, dry plates, gelatin bromide, and printing. The albumen-print frontispiece pictures an unidentified stone building, probably related to a known individual, as two busts on pedestals are present. The quant, shingle-roof structure is backed by trees and a distinctive water tower. This title went through at least five editions and probably included the albumen print in only the first. Ellerslie Wallace (1819-1885) was a prominent Philadelphia physician, who frequently wrote articles on surgery for medical journals. The Amateur Photographer appears to be his only photographic book, released the year before he died. Electrostatic copy of his New York Times obituary laid in. Tiny creases in print, mount is tape reinforced on back, previous owner’s label and signature, hinges a little loose, and rubbing to covers. $350
- WILSON, George Washington. Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1863. Hardcover (gold-stamped maroon cloth), 7 x 4 ¾ inches, 340 pages, 10 mounted albumen prints, gilt edges.
Scott’s influential nineteenth-century poem, set in Scotland over six days. Wilson’s rich albumen prints (about 4 x 3 inches each, with tissue guards) are accompanied by specific lines from the poem and are primarily landscapes. They show woods, lakes, a waterfall, boathouse, and Stirling Castle. Listed in Gernsheim, Incunabula of British Photographic Literature, 1839-1875. Rear hinge loose and covers worn. $350
- WILSON, George Washington (attribution). Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1871. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 7 x 4 ½ inches, 354 pages, 5 mounted albumen prints, gilt edges.
Another edition, with fewer images, which are uncredited. This selection pictures Doune Castle (frontispiece), Loch Katrine, Glenfinlas, Benvenue, and Loch Lubnaig. See: Goldschmidt and Naef, The Truthful Lens. Front hinge loose and covers lightly worn. $250
Original Photographs
(Images supplied on request)
- BEATO, Antonio. Thirteen albumen prints, c. 1880s.
Unmounted images of Egypt, each measuring about 8 x 10 inches. Subjects include a sailboat docked along the banks of the River Nile, the Island of Philae, and temples, ruins, and monuments at Dendera, Edfu, and Thebes. Beato’s credit is scratched into the negative or inset, or both. Italian-born Antonio Beato (1825-1903) began working along the Nile in 1857 and five years later established a studio in Cairo. He relocated to Luxor in 1870, running his business for thirty years out of the prestigious Hotel Luxor. All but one print rich and detailed. Group of 13: $1,000
- CONSTANTINE, Dimitrios. Eighteen albumen prints, with ephemera.
Athens, Greece, depicted in prints that measure about 8 ½ x 10 ½ inches, on 11-x-14-inch mounts. Subjects include the Acropolis, Parthenon, Caryatides, Theatre of Bacchus, Arch of Adrian, Temple of Jupiter, Monument of Lysicrate, Hill of the Pnyx, and Tower of the Winds. Most have Constantine’s identifying numbers inset in the image. Accompanied by a four-page catalog of about 150 prints offered by Constantin Athanassiou & Co., a rare early piece of nineteenth-century ephemera that relates directly to the photographs here (text in French). D. Constantine set up his Athens studio in 1858, becoming only the second professional photographer in the city, and remained active into the 1870s. He was the first photographer to work for the Hellenic Archaeological Society. All prints in very good condition, catalog with a few tears and folds. Set of 18: $1,500
- Daguerreotype. Unknown photographer, [man in top hat], ¼ plate daguerreotype, c. 1855.
This is a nice portrait of a young man with a beard, wearing a coat and tall top hat. It is housed in a gold oval metal mat and an unusual octagonal-shaped case. Normal light wear to case, which is missing the front. $350
- HAYNES, F. Jay. Three albumen-print stereocards, St. Paul, Minnesota:
- Jay Haynes, c. 1880s, each 3 ½ x 7 inches.
Haynes’ mounts tout his Yellowstone Park and Northern Pacific scenery. Two are from Yellowstone: “Hot Spring Cone,” showing two fishermen, and “BeeHive Geyser,” with a small group of onlookers. The third card pictures Cape Horn on Oregon’s Columbia River, showing a massive rock formation, with a man in rowboat in the foreground. Frank Jay Haynes (1853-1921) began as photographer in Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1876, securing the same year a contract with the Northern Pacific Railroad to photograph along its line, work that lasted three decades. In 1884, he obtained a lease from the U.S. Government to open a studio in Yellowstone National Park, and he served as the site’s official photographer for over thirty years. Haynes ran a portrait studio in St. Paul, Minnesota, beginning in 1895, and retired about twenty years later. During his long and productive career, he pictured the landscape and people (including Native Americans) of much of the Northwest. Near fine condition. Group of three: $45
- HOPE, J. D. Six albumen prints, Watkins Glen, New York: J. D. Hope,
- 1880s, each 9 ½ x 7 ½ inches (print/image), on 14-x-11-inch mounts.
Images made in a scenic 400-foot gorge, at the southern end of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. They include: Cavern Cascade, Pluto Falls, Min-ne-ha-ha Falls, Central Cascade, and Rainbow Falls (in winter). The standout image is “Reflection in Cathedral,” showing trees reflected in still, shallow water, framed by towering pines and a rocky façade. This may have been Hope’s best-selling picture, as it is the only one here with the title printed on the mount (all others have titles inserted in the image), and another print of it is in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. James Douglas Hope (1846-1929) studied photography at Niagara Falls, and set up his studio in Watkins Glen around 1875. He worked extensively in the Watkins Glen gorge, when it was a private tourist resort and before it became part of a state park in the early twentieth century. All but one print, rich and in very good condition. Set of six: $2,500
- THURLOW, James. Eighteen albumen-print stereocards, Manitou, Colorado: J. Thurlow, c. 1880s, each 4 x 7 inches.
A nice group of Thurlow’s “Colorado Views,” all made in the vicinity of his home base of Manitou, on oversize (Imperial) cards. The subjects are: Rainbow Falls (in Summer and Winter), Garden of the Gods, Pike’s Peak, Devil’s Punch Bow, Seven Falls, Glen Eyrie, Navajo Spring, Bath of Venus, Fountain Cascade, Pillar of Jupiter, and the Flying Dutchman. Many of them feature distinctive rock formations, sometimes with a human figure, for scale and interest. Occasional handwritten notes on the backs of the mounts, giving the height of formations and personal impressions. James Thurlow (1831-1878) was an accomplished Colorado landscape photographer who was profiled in Stereo World (vol. 10, no. 6). All prints rich and in good condition, except for one which is soiled. Set of 18: $350
- Tintype. Unknown photographer, [portrait of young man], tintype,
- 1860s, 1 x 1 inch (circular).
What makes this piece interesting is the two-piece, circular gutta-percha case. The top screws on and off, and features a different design than the bottom. About the size of an Oreo cookie, and just as delicious, visually. $100
- Tintype. Unknown photographer, [portrait of young man], tintype,
- 1860s, 6 x 4 ½ inches (tintype), 11 ½ x 10 inches (frame).
This is a large studio tintype, of a man wearing a suit and ribbon tie. While the image is not remarkable, its frame is: a cut-out leather affair, with mohair inserts, suggesting tramp art. “George Miller” is written on the back, presumably identifying the sitter. $150
Books & Ephemera
- ABDULLAH FRERES. Engin Ozendes, Abdullah Frères: Ottoman Court Photographers, Istanbul, Turkey: Yapi Kredi Culture & Art Publications, 1998. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 11 x 8 ½ inches, 248 pages, duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is the adventure of three Turkish brothers who ran a photographic studio in Constantinople from 1858 until the beginning of World War I. Kevork, Viçen, and Hovsep Abdullah won the favor of Sultan Abdülaziz with their portraits and moved on to photograph other celebrities of their time. They also took their cameras out into the city’s streets and countryside, documenting Turkish life for natives and tourists alike. In 1868, they opened a branch in Cairo, from which they produced thousands of images of Egypt. An extensive, unrivaled study of one of the leading professional studios in the Middle East during the nineteenth century, which includes full-size, color reproductions of twenty-two of their elaborately designed mounts. Near fine condition. $175
- ABNEY, William de Wiveleslie. Handwritten letter, 7 x 4 ½ inches,
4 panels, c. 1895.
On his letterhead of Rathmore Lodge in London’s fashionable South Kensington borough, the letter is dated February 18 and addressed to a Mrs. Clark. In it, Abney thanks her for her letter and discusses his books and travel plans to Ireland. Accompanied by Abney’s 20-page article “Photography,” extracted from the 1905 edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica. Captain Sir William Abney (1843-1920) invented printing-out paper and wrote over twenty books on photographic technique. In 1876, he published the book Thebes and its Five Greater Temples, with woodburytypes of Egypt, and he later served as president of London’s Photographic Society. $50
- After Daguerre: Masterworks of French Photography (1848-1900) from the Bibliothèque Nationale, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Bertger-Levrault, Paris, 1980. Hardcover (silver and blind-stamped black cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 192 pages, 201 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed, with ephemera.
Read the subtitle and you’ll understand the contents. Features two essays: “Early Photography in the Collection of the Cabinet des Estampes” by Jean-Pierre Seguin, and “The Beginning of Photography as Art in France” by Weston J. Naef. The catalogue section comprises biographic information and pictures with descriptions by nearly one hundred photographers. Stand-out names are: Eugène Atget, Edouard-Denis Baldus, Adolphe Braun, J. B. Greene, Gustave Le Gray, Etienne-Jules Marey, Nadar, and Félix Teynard. Laid into this copy are two original reviews of the show, from Time and the Christian Science Monitor. Additionally, this copy is signed by essayist Naef. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny edgewear. $95
- ALINARI and Company. Virginia W. Johnson, Genoa the Superb, the City of Columbus, Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1892. Hardcover (red, blue, and gold-stamped white cloth), 8 ¼ x 5 ¾ inches, 300 pages, 20 photogravure illustrations.
This is a narrative history of the Northern Italian city of Genoa, situated on the Mediterranean Sea and the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. Such books started to be written in great numbers in the middle of the nineteenth century, when thousands of Europeans embarked on their Grand Tours. The Alinari firm provided images of the city’s highlights: the port, Columbus Monument, Palazzo Municipale, Cathedral of San Lorenzo, the Great Lighthouse, Staglieno Cemetery, and other spots. The plates are printed in rich photogravure and protected by tissue guards. Leopoldo Alinari (1832-1865) set up a photographic studio in Florence in 1852. Two years later his brothers Romualdo and Giuseppe joined, to become Frataelli Alinari, Fotografi Editori, which became one of the largest photographic establishments in all of Europe. Their eventual stock of 70,000 negatives remains active to this day. Dedication page wrinkled, minor edgewear, two tiny holes in back cover, and browning to spine. $50
- AMERICA.
West of the Rockies: A Traveling Exhibition, Rochester: George Eastman House, c. 1965. Brochure, 8 ¾ x 3 ¾ inches 6 panels, one halftone illustration. Offers a traveling show of twenty-five photographs, for a monthly rental fee of $125. Includes work by Gardner, Haynes, Hillers, Jackson, Muybridge, O’Sullivan, and Watkins.
Nineteenth Century Mammoth Plates of the American West, Norfolk, Virginia: Chrysler Museum, 1979. Softcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches, 16 pages, 10 halftone illustrations. Exhibition catalog, with introduction by curator Brooks Johnson. Includes the work of F. Jay Hayes, William Henry Jackson, Eadweard Muybridge, and Carleton E. Watkins.
Wild Beauty: Photography of the Columbia River Gorge, 1865-1915. Portland, Oregon: Portland Art Museum, 1984. Softcover, 10 x 6 ½ inches, 24 pages, 12 halftone illustrations. Exhibition catalog, with essay by curator Terry Toedtemeier. Features work by and biographies of Carleton E. Watkins, Isaac Davidson, F. Jay Haynes, William Henry Jackson, Benjamin A. Gifford, Lilly E. White, Oscar and Fred Kiser, and Edward S. Curtis.
The Eastern Wilderness: Photographs, 1850-1900, Washington, D.C.: Tartt Gallery, 1990. Softcover, 7 x 10 ½ inches, 16 pages, 16 halftone illustrations. Small exhibition catalog from two commercial galleries—Tartt and Gary Edwards Fine Art. The text by Jo Tartt, Jr., and Edwards cover “Philosophers in the Adirondacks,” “A Different View of the New Arcadia,” and “The End of the Dream?” Reproduces images by William James Stillman, A. J. Russell, and William Henry Jackson (panorama of the Hudson River at Dobbs Ferry). This copy signed and dated 1990 by Tartt.
Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, Fort Worth, Texas: Amon Carter Museum, 1991. Invitation, with a color reproduction of an 1850 daguerreotype of a “California forty-Niner,” and press release for an exhibition of 150 objects.
Group of five: $25
- ANDREWS, Ralph W. Picture Gallery Pioneers, 1850 to 1875, Seattle: Superior, 1964. Hardcover (orange-stamped black cloth), 10 ¾ x 8 ¼ inches, 192 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
This is an early history of Western professional photographers, working on government surveys and in their studios to make cartes-de-visite, stereocards, and full-size albumen prints. Among those profiled are William Henry Jackson, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, and operators in California, Idaho, Montana, Portland, Seattle, Denver, and Salt Lake City. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny edgewear and rubbing. $35
- Antique Photography in Hokkaido, Japan: 1983. Hardcover (black-stamped blue cloth), 9 x 10 ½ inches, 172 pages, halftone illustrations (some
in color), dustjacket.
This book examines nineteenth-century photography in Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island and the country’s northernmost prefecture. It includes portraits, landscapes, and harbor, village, and city scenes. Features biographies of ten photographers and a timeline from 1839 to 1914. Text in Japanese. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny edgewear. $35
- BARNARD, George N. Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign, New York: Dover, 1977. Softcover, 12 x 9 inches, 80 pages, 69 halftone illustrations.
This is a reprint of the text and photographs that Barnard published under the same title in 1866, as a book with large albumen prints pasted in. Gerry Badger has written of the original that it “is the first great landscape photobook, but it is of a wounded brutalized land—gouged and scarred and broken. Its tone is stoically calm, yet bleak, and is all the more so for being so lucidly understated.” George Barnard (1819-1902) worked for Mathew Brady during much of the Civil War but in 1864 joined Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on his “March to the Sea” through Tennessee and the Carolinas, which devastated Confederate troops and Southern cities. Rubbing and light wear to covers, with spot on back. $25
- BARNARD, George N. Keith F. Davis, George N. Barnard, Photographer of Sherman’s Campaign, Kansas City, Missouri: Hallmark Cards, 1990. Hardcover (gray-stamped black cloth), 10 x 12 ¼ inches, 232 pages, 215 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
The only critical biography on Barnard, this is a detailed and handsome production. Curator Davis covers the photographer’s early work with the daguerreotype, time in Washington, D.C. with Mathew B. Brady (today better known, but not as skilled at landscapes as Barnard), important documentation of General Sherman’s Civil War wins, and his late career, to 1902. This copy signed by Davis. Fine condition. $125
- BARRY, D. F. Thomas M. Heski, “Icastinyanka Cikala Hanzi:” The Little Shadow Catcher: D. F. Barry, Celebrated Photographer of Famous Indians, Seattle: Superior, 1978. Hardcover (gold-stamped tan cloth), 10 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 176 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
An overview of photographs by David F. Barry (1854-1934), made between 1877 and 1934. Based primarily in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Superior, Wisconsin, Barry focused on Native American subjects such as Sitting Bull and Rain-in-the-Face, who called him the Little Shadow Catcher (Icastinyanka Cikala Hanzi in his native tongue). Near fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket. $35
- BARTRAM, Michael. The Pre-Raphaelite Camera: Aspects of Victorian Photography, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1985. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 11 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, 200 pages, 179 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is an insightful examination of the Pre-Raphaelite painters use of the camera and the movement’s influence on photographers in their subject matter and approach. Among the photographers covered are Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, Oscar G. Rejlander, and Henry Peach Robinson. Artists covered include William Holman Hunt, John Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Near fine condition. $35
- BENNETT, H. H. Sarah Rath, Pioneer Photographer: Wisconsin’s H. H. Bennett, Madison, Wisconsin: Tamarack Press, 1979. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 192 pages, halftone illustrations. Stated first printing.
This was the first substantial examination of the work of Henry Hamilton Bennett (1843-1908). Based in what is now the city of Wisconsin Dells, Bennett made a name for himself photographing the unique rock, cliffs, and caves of the Wisconsin River, and was primarily responsible for the public image of the dells in the late nineteenth century. A family-run business from the start, the H. H. Bennett studio is still in existence today. MOMA curator John Szarkowski proclaimed that his work “was a portrait of America discovering an identity with the wild world,” and reflected an “awakening to the poetic uses of the land.” Covers lightly rubbed and a touch of edgewear. $25
- BENNETT, H. H.
The Wisconsin Heritage of Photography: Bennett, Milwaukee Art Center, 1970. Softcover, 7 ½ x 7 ½ inches, 28 pages, 15 halftone illustrations. Exhibition catalog with two short essays by museum director Tracy Atkinson and Arnold Gore and Saralee Fine. The images are primarily of the distinctive carved rocks at Wisconsin Dells and tourists enjoying them, but also includes a picture of Bennett with his wife and three children in one of the rooms of their house.
Tom Bamberger and Terrence L. Marvel, H. H. Bennett: A Sense of Place, Milwaukee Art Museum, 1992. Softcover, 9 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 32 pages, 16 halftone illustrations. Features stereocards, panoramas (printed across two pages), and some romantic “dell-scapes,” with dramatic skies undoubtedly printed in from a second negative. This appears to be the latest publication on Bennett and, though not lengthy, probably the most analytical and reliable.
Pair: $25
- BLACK, Alexander. Miss America: Pen and Camera Sketches of the American Girl, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898. Hardcover (gold-stamped green cloth with mounted reproduction), 9 ½ x 6 ¼ inches, 208 pages, halftone illustrations.
Preceding the “Miss America” pageant by two decades, this book is not about a contest, but rather the nature of American women. Black shows the hair styles and dress of his subjects, both individually and in groups. Photographed between Boston and Texas (though not identified), are youngsters, college-age girls, women at professions such as publishing editor, and even celebrates their new freedom not to marry, though the last chapter capitulates, being titled “And so they were married.” Alexander Black (1859-1940) was a magazine and newspaper writer who also produced a few books on photography. He developed the “picture play,” a narrated presentation of projected photographic images that dissolved into one another, a rough predecessor to motion pictures. Light cover marks and sunning to spine and part of front cover. $35
- BLANQUART-EVRARD, Louis-Désiré. Camera, December 1978.
The entire issue of this quality Swiss magazine is devoted to Blanquart-Evrard (1802-1872). Not a photographer, but an early publisher of the work of major nineteenth-century operators, he is credited with helping to preserve the output of the likes of Maxime Du Camp, J. B. Greene, Henri Le Secq, Charles Marville, and Victor Regnault. He ran Imprimerie Photographique in Lille from 1851 to 1855, producing at least twenty albums and hundreds of prints used in other publications. This magazine features essays on Blanquart-Evrard by collector Isabella James and editor Allan Porter, along with 40 duotone illustrations and biographical notes on fifteen photographers. Tiny edgewear. $25
- BONFILS, Félix. Camera, March 1981. Softcover, 11 ½ x 9 inches, 48 pages, 34 halftone illustrations.
Virtually the entire issue of the magazine is devoted to the Bonfils. Editor Allan Porter writes on “Félix, Lydie, and Adrien: The Travelling Photographer, 1867-1916,” and a trio of scholars contribute the essay “The Photographers Bonfils of Beirut and Alès.” In 1867, Félix Bonfils (1831-1885) established his studio in Beirut, Lebanon, which after his death was run by his wife and son as La Maison Bonfils. The firm, one of the most prolific in the Holy Land, pictured monuments, ruins, and people in ethnic attire. Near fine condition. $25
- BONFILS, Félix. Carney E. S. Gavin, The Image of the East: Nineteenth-Century Near Eastern Photographs by Bonfils, University of Chicago Press, 1982. Softcover, 9 x 6 inches, 116 pages, 6 halftone illustrations. Signed.
Text about the Bonfils studio and each of the principals, including son Adrien (1861-1929) and wife Lydie Cabanis (1837-1919), and their successor A. Guiragossian (1871-1956). Lists the approximately 1,000 photographs in the collection of Harvard’s Semitic Museum, and features a Bonfils family tree and three maps of the places they photographed throughout the Mediterranean. Compiled and edited by Ingeborg O’Reilly, who has inscribed this copy. Near fine condition. $25
- BONFILS, Félix. Douglas M. Haller, In Arab Lands: The Bonfils Collection at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, 2000. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 9 ½ x 14 ¾ inches, 94 pages, 59 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
A large-format book with Bonfils images from an archeology and anthropology museum collection. Includes the only color reproductions of Bonfils work known to me, with images from seven photochromes, a lithographic process that allowed hand tinting during the printing. They include Bedouin shepherds and Muslim women in Syrian costume; temples in Baalbek, Lebanon; an overview of the city of Beirut, Lebanon; the interior of a house in Damascus, Syria; and the north shore of the Dead Sea. Near fine condition, in lightly rubbed dustjacket. $75
- BONFILS, Félix.
Carney E. S. Gavin, Bonfils and the Early Photography of the Near East, offprint from Harvard Library Bulletin, October 1978. Softcover, 10 ¼ x 7 inches, 30 pages, 16 halftone illustrations. An early overview of the Bonfils firm and its relationship to others in the region, with descriptions and analysis of each of the 16 plates. With a hand-written letter from Ingeborg O’Reilly, the photo-archivist at Harvard’s Semitic Museum, where the original Bonfils photographs reside.
Remembrances of the Near East: The Photographs of Bonfils, 1867-1907, Rochester: Eastman House, 1980. Softcover, 9 x 7 inches, 24 pages, 14 halftone illustrations. Small catalog for a show that the Eastman House traveled to New York’s Jewish Museum and institutions in Chicago and Boston. Text by curator Robert Sobieszek and Carney Gavin of Harvard’s Semitic Museum.
Pair: $25
- BOURNE, Samuel. Arthur Ollman, Samuel Bourne: Images of India, Carmel, California: Friends of Photography, 1983. Softcover, 11 x 9 ¼ inches, 48 pages, 25 duotone illustrations.
Issued as the Friends’ Untitled number 33, this publication examines Bourne’s work in India from 1865 to 1869. He photographed impressive buildings and the majestic landscape in Delhi, Benaras, Kashmir, and elsewhere. Ollman covers the photographer’s life, travels, and working method. British photographer Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) was most recognized for his prolific work in India during the 1860s. He sailed to Calcutta in 1863 and by three years later was part of the successful team Bourne and Shepherd, which still exists today. After producing hundreds of photographs with the wet-plate collodion process, he returned in 1871 to England, where he switched his business interests to cotton. Near fine condition. $35
- BRADY, Mathew B. Roy Meredith, Mr. Lincoln’s Camera Man: Mathew B. Brady, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1946. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped blue cloth), 12 x 9 ½ inches, 368 pages, 285 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
A substantial early examination of Brady’s life, work, and contribution to American history. The author declares that his subject was “the photographic historian of the United States of his day.” Browning to pages, tiny cloth edgewear, in worn and torn dustjacket. $50
- BRADY, Mathew B. Manuel Komroff, Photographing History: Mathew Brady, Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1962. Hardcover (gold-stamped red paper over boards), 8 ½ x 5 ¾ inches, 192 pages, 29 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
A biography of the famous Civil War and portrait photographer by Komroff, a photographer in his own right. From the series “Britannica Bookshelf: Great Lives for Young Americans.” Fine condition. $25
- BRADY, Mathew B. A Tribute to Mathew B. Brady, Birmingham, New York: Ansco, 1963. Softcover, 7 ½ x 5 ½ inches, 16 pages, 5 halftone illustrations.
Published on the occasion of the Ansco Camera Club Services Department establishing a gallery devoted to Brady’s work. The text covers Brady’s early studio, his work during the Civil War, the wet collodion process, and Ansco’s collection of original negatives. Light rubbing and scuff mark to cover. $15
- BRITAIN.
British Masters of the Albumen Print, Rochester: George Eastman House, 1973. Softcover, 9 x 7 inches, 8 pages, 2 halftone illustrations. Checklist of an exhibition of nearly two hundred photographs, with an introduction by curator Robert A. Sobieszek. Includes work by photographers from James Anderson to George Washington Wilson. Tiny fold to cover.
Cameron, Fenton, and Others: Victorian Photography at Colnaghi, London: P. & D. Colnaghi, 2006. Softcover, 10 x 6 ½ inches, 28 pages, 35 duotone illustrations. A nicely designed and printed catalog for a two-week show at Colnaghi, during which a seminar on the subject was held. Includes an introduction by Tim Warner-Johnson, essays by Pam Roberts on topographical photographs and “Talbot, Fenton, and Cameron,” and biographies of the three. Fine condition.
Pair: $25
- BRITELL, Richard, Roy Flukinger, and others. Paper and Light: The Calotype in France and Great Britain, 1839-1870, Boston: David R. Godine, 1984. Hardcover (black-stamped orange cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 216 pages, 157 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
The only combined study of the paper negative in these two countries, it addresses the calotype’s influence on photographic history and the diversity of techniques used by practitioners. The essays are: “The Calotype and Aesthetics in Early Photography” by Nancy Keeler, “The Calotype as Print Medium” by Britell, Keeler and Sydney Mallett Kilgore, and “The Calotype and the Photographic Exhibition of the Society of Arts, London, 1852-53” by Roy Flukinger. Also features biographical sketches of the nearly forty photographers discussed, such as Talbot, Hill & Adamson, and Calvert Jones. This copy signed and dated 1999 by author Flukinger. Near fine condition. $50
- BUCKLAND, Gail. Reality Recorded: Early Documentary Photography, Greenwich, Connecticut: New York Graphic Society, 1974. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 12 x 8 ½ inches, 128 pages, 205 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
Royal Photographic Society curator Buckland’s investigation of the straight-forward use of the camera up to the advent of the dry plate negative in about 1885. She chose pictures of corpses after the Indian Mutiny of 1858, the opening of the London underground in 1862, a slave pen in Virginia in 1865, the bound feet of Chinese women in 1870, the Royal Family, and about two hundred other images. Unknown as well as famous photographers, such as Talbot, Fenton, and Brady are among the makers. This copy signed by Buckland. Near fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket. $50
- BULL, Deborah, and Donald Lorimer. Up the Nile: A Photographic Excursion: Egypt, 1839-1898, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1979. Hardcover (brown-stamped white cloth), 8 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches, 140 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, signed.
With a foreword by Sotheby Parke Bernet’s photography expert, Anne Horton, this volume takes the reader on a visual journey from Cairo south (upstream on the River Nile, to all of Egypt’s major monuments. It features pictures of the sphinx, pyramids, and other subjects, by Antonio Beato, Felix Bonfils, Maxime Du Camp, Francis Firth, J. B. Greene, Felix Tenyard, and about twenty other pioneering workers. This copy inscribed by Lorimer. Fine condition. $35
- BURBANK, W. H. The Photographic Negative, New York: Scovill Manufacturing Co., 1888. Hardcover (gold and black-stamped brown cloth),
9 ¼ x 6 inches, 198 pages, 38 line and halftone illustrations.
The book’s subtitle indicates its scope: “A practical guide to the preparation of sensitive surfaces by the calotype, albumen, collodion, and gelatin processes, on glass and paper, with supplementary chapters on development.” A popular title in Scovill’s Photographic Series. Reverend William Henry Burbank (1853-?) wrote at least three photographic books, was a monthly contributor to the Photographic Times, and in 1889 became the founding editor and publisher of the American Amateur Photographer, in Brunswick, Maine. Frontispiece tissue guard missing a small piece, covers worn. $125
- CAMERON, Julia Margaret. Helmut Gernsheim, Julia Margaret Cameron: Pioneer of Photography, London: Fountain Press, 1948. Hardcover (black-stamped yellow cloth), 9 ½ x 7 ¼ inches, 140 pages, 52 screen-gravure illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
This is the first full-length study of the great English nineteenth-century portrait photographer. After the introduction by art critic Clive Bell, Gernsheim delves into Cameron’s life, environment, and photographic work. Among the brown-toned plates, printed in high-quality gravure, are images of all her most famous sitters: Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, Sir John Herschel, Alice Liddell (the original Alice in Wonderland), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ellen Terry, George Frederick Watts, and even herself. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with two tape-repaired tears. $45
- CAMERON, Julia Margaret. Brian Hill, Julia Margaret Cameron: A Victorian Family Portrait, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973. Hardcover (paper over boards), 9 x 5 ½ inches, 204 pages, 22 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
An in-depth account of Cameron’s life, family, friends, and photographic pursuits. Includes her family tree and bibliography. Near fine condition, in lightly rubbed and wrinkled dustjacket. $25
- CAMERON, Julia Margaret. Idylls of the King and Other Poems Photographically Illustrated by Julia Margaret Cameron, Text by Alfred Lord Tennyson, New York: Janet Lehr, 1985. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 52 pages, 26 halftone illustrations.
This is Volume 7, Numbers 1-2 of the regular sales catalogs that Lehr issued. It reproduces albumen images Cameron made in 1874 of various figures and scenes from Tennyson’s Idylls, accompanied by his text. Among those pictured are King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and Vivien, all in elaborate Victorian costume and surroundings. Near fine condition. $15
- CAMERON, Julia Margaret. Joanne Lukitsh, Julia Margaret Cameron: Her Work and Career, Rochester: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, 1986. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 104 pages, halftone illustrations.
Exhibition catalog covering Cameron’s pictures of family, Madonnas and cherubs, “Idylls of the King,” and other portraits and illustrations. Spine faded with writing, light cover edgewear. $25
- CAMERON, Julia Margaret. Ephemera.
Julia Margaret Cameron, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Clarence Kennedy Gallery, 1984. Exhibition announcement.
Photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron, Art Institute of Chicago, 1984. Exhibition brochure.
Whisper of the Muse: The Work of Julia Margaret Cameron, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1990. Exhibition brochure.
Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, Isle of Wight, England, 1990. Pamphlet with letter asking for funds to help save Cameron’s house.
For My Best Beloved Sister, Mia:” An Album of Photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron, San Diego: Museum of Photographic Arts, 1996. Exhibition announcement.
“Cupid, Circe and Jesus,” New York Time Book Review, April 27, 2003. Book review of Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs, on original newsprint.
Group of six: $25
- CARROLL, Lewis. Morton N. Cohen, Lewis Carroll, Photographer of Children: Four Nude Studies, Philadelphia: Rosenbach Foundation, and Clarkson N. Potter, 1979. Hardcover (brown-stamped yellow cloth), 10 x 7 inches, 32 pages, 4 color halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Examines just four pictures of nude girls by English writer Charles L. Dodgson (1832-1898), acquired by the Rosenbach Foundation in the 1950s. The images are heavily hand-worked, all but obscuring their photographic origins, and show the subjects on seashores, seated beside a tree, and in the studio. Carroll proclaimed that “I have been largely privileged in tête-à-tête intercourse with children.” Near fine condition, with one short tear to dustjacket. $35
- CHARNAY, Désiré. Keith F. Davis, Désiré Charnay: Expeditionary Photographer, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1981. Hardcover (copper-stamped white cloth), 10 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 212 pages, 124 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, with signed ephemera.
A lively account of the late nineteenth-century photographs of Charnay (1828-1915), whose work was previously unknown to the American public. He was the first to photograph the Mayan ruins in Mexico and later worked in Madagascar, Java, and Australia, picturing both architecture and native inhabitants. The book serves as a useful history of photography, anthropology, and archaeology. Laid into this copy is the author’s signed business card. Near fine, in dustjacket that has a short tear and a few tiny wrinkles. $35
- CHEVEDDEN, Paul E. The Photographic Heritage of the Middle East: An Exhibition of Early Photographs of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece & Iran, 1849-1893, Malibu, California: Undena Publications, 1982. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 36 pages, 24 halftone illustrations.
Catalog for an exhibition at the Research Library of the University of California, Los Angeles. Covers early photographers, local studios and resident photographers, and photography as a tool for scientific exploration. The photographers represented, all with biographies, are Francis Frith, W. Hammerschmidt, Francis Bedford, Antonio Beato, La Maison Bonfils, G. Zangaki, Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop, and Gulmez Fréres. Near fine condition. $35
- CLICHÉ-VERRE. Elizabeth Glassman and Marilyn F. Symmes, Cliché-verre: Hand-Drawn, Light-Printed: A Survey of the Medium from 1839 to the Present, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1980. Softcover, 11 x 9 ¼ inches, 212 pages, halftone illustrations. Author signature laid in.
The exhibition catalog for a show of clichés-verre spanning a century and a half. This hybrid of printmaking and photography usually features a hand-rendered image on a transparent base that is then used like a negative to make a print on light sensitive paper. Among the nineteenth-century artists featured here are Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Eugène Delacroix, and Jean-François Millet; twentieth-century contributors include Brassaï, Man Ray, Henry Holmes Smith, and Frederick Sommer. Laid into this copy is a 1985 letter from Marilyn Symmes, signed by her. Tiny edgewear. $35
- COLNAGHI, P. & D. Photography: The First Eighty Years, London: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., 1976. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches, 262 pages, halftone illustrations.
This is an early, important sales catalog, offering 431 items. They are arranged chronologically in the following sections: Pre-Photographic Material; Early Photographic Papers; Daguerreotypes; Early English Photography; French Photography; British Pictorial, Genre and Landscape Photography; British Portrait Photography; Miscellaneous Books, Albums and Ephemera; Italian Photography; Turkish and Greek Photography; American Photography; Canadian Photography; English Topographical and Documentary Photography; Sun Artists; the Naturalists; and the Photo-Secession. Among the offerings were a copy of Talbot’s The Pencil of Nature, prints by Atget for $1,200, portraits by Cameron for less than $1,000, Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War, a complete set of Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion, and platinum prints by Peter Henry Emerson for $1,600. Well-researched text and descriptions by Valerie Lloyd, with price list laid in. Covers rubbed and lightly worn. $45
- CONSTANTINE, Dimitrios. Establissement Spécial de Photographies d’Anciens Monuments. Athens, Greece: Constantin Athanassiou & Co., c. 1860s. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 6 ¾ inches, 4 pages, unillustrated.
This is one of Constantine’s small catalogs, offering about 150 prints of Athens and Greece. It begins with a general section and then groups pictures by the following locales: Musée d’Olympie, Musée d’Acropele (Bas-reliefs), Ancien Cimitére du Céramique, and Nouveau Musée Central, and includes a note about his panoramic photographs. A fragile and rare piece of illuminating nineteenth-century ephemera. Text in French. (Another copy with a set of original photographs by Constantine listed as number 21 in this catalog.) D. Constantine set up his Athens studio in 1858, becoming only the second professional photographer in the city, and remained active into the 1870s. He was the first photographer to work for the Hellenic Archaeological Society. Surprisingly clean, with a few folds. $150
- CURRENT, Karen. Photography and the Old West, New York: Harry N. Abrams, and Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1978. Hardcover (black-stamped cream cloth and gold-stamped brown cloth spine, with mounted reproduction), 8 ½ x 11 ¼ inches, 272 pages, 172 halftone illustrations. With ephemera.
This is a study of nineteenth-century photography in the American West. Nineteen chapters are devoted to individual photographers, like the pioneers Bell, Hillers, Jackson, Muybridge, O’Sullivan, and Watkins. But lesser-known figures also appear, among them Arundel C. Hull, Solomon D. Butcher, Camillus S. Fly, and John Grabill. William R. Current selected and printed the photographs. Laid into this copy is the business card of curator Karen Sinsheimer, previously Karen Current. Issued without a dustjacket, and in near fine condition. $50
- CURRIER, Charles H. Charles H. Currier: A Boston Photographer (Active ca. 1887-1910), Waltham, Massachusetts: Poses Institute of Fine Arts, Brandeis University, 1964. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 11 inches, 16 pages, 11 halftone illustrations. Signed by author.
This nicely designed exhibition catalog has an introduction by museum director Thomas H. Garver. The catalog groups the pictures into the following categories: Country, City, Home, People, Office and Mill, Poor, and Machine. Charles H. Currier (1851-1938) began as a professional photographer in 1889, opening a Boston studio. He made 8-x-10-inch glass plate negatives, which yielded great detail and tonal range, as is evident in this publication’s reproductions. He retired in 1909. This copy signed by Garver. Tiny bends and edgewear to covers. $10
- DAGUERRE, Louis Jacques Mandé. Helmut and Alison Gernsheim,
- J. M. Daguerre (1787-1851), the World’s First Photographer, Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1956. Hardcover (gold and black-stamped brown cloth), 10 x
7 ½ inches, 216 pages, 117 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
According to the flap, this is “an absorbing account of the life of Louis Daguerre, the man responsible for giving us the first practical process of photography. From the beginnings of Daguerre’s career in the arts as an apprentice to an architect, through his extensive work as a scene designer with the Diorama, and the successful culmination of his experiments with the daguerreotype, the Gernsheims have drawn a detailed portrait of a man whose invention has been called the greatest since that of the printing press.” Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is rubbed and lightly edgeworn. $50
- DAGUERRE, Louis Jacques Mandé. Beaumont Newhall, Daguerre, New York: Winter House, 1971. Hardcover (blind-stamped black cloth), 10 ¼ x 6 ¾ inches, 282 pages, 36 halftone illustrations, slipcase.
A short historical and descriptive account of the launching of photography in France, including Daguerre’s earlier undertaking, the Diorama. The bulk of the book comprises full reprints of both the English and French language editions of Daguerre’s 1839 manual on the process. Issued without a dustjacket, in the original slipcase. Top of cloth spine lightly bumped, in a lightly edgeworn slipcase. $35
- DARRAH, William C. Cartes de Visite in Nineteenth Century Photography, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: W. C. Darrah, 1981. Hardcover (gold-stamped red leatherette), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 222 pages, 448 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Nineteenth-century expert Darrah’s exhaustive study of one of the most popular photographic formats during the late nineteenth century. His essay covers the background and development of the carte and the business of photography. While the vast majority of cartes-de-visite were portraits, he includes a section on about seventy-five other subjects, from advertising to zoology. One corner bumped. $65
- DIMOCK, George. Caroline Sturgis Tappan & the Grand Tour: A Collection of Nineteenth-Century Photographs, Lenox, Massachusetts: Lenox Library Association, 1982. Softcover, 11 ½ x 9 inches, 80 pages, 73 halftone illustrations.
This is the exhibition catalog for a show of photographs collected during the 1850s-1880s by Ms. Tappan, a wealthy Boston socialite. Dimock gives us her biography, and writes about her relationship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, the meaning of foreign travel, and Tappan’s time abroad. In addition to the normal big names, photographers with pictures and biographies include Gioacchino Altobelli, Carlo Ponti, and J. Pascal Sebah. Near fine condition. $25
- The Documentary Photograph as a Work of Art: American Photographs, 1860-1876, Chicago: David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, 1976. Softcover, 11 ½ x 10 inches, 50 pages, 12 halftone illustrations.
Catalog for a smart show at the University of Chicago’s Smart Gallery. Includes essays by John Cawelti, Alan Fern, Doug Munson, and Joel Snyder. Comprises the kind of well-seen nineteenth-century landscape work that has now been accepted by museums as art. In addition to some from unknown practitioners, the illustrations are by such big names as George N. Barnard, John H. Hillers, William Henry Jackson, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Andrew Joseph Russell, and Carleton E. Watkins. A few bends to covers. $25
- DU CAMP, Maxime. Bodo von Dewitz and Karin Schuller-Procopovici, Die Reise zum Nile, 1849-1850: Maxime Du Camp und Gustave Flaubert in Agypten, Palastina und Syria, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 1997. Hardcover (white-printed paper over boards), 11 x 9 ½ inches, 228 pages, 137 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
Here we have an in-depth examination of the important, early excursion of Du Camp and fellow author Gustave Flaubert to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, in the middle of the nineteenth century. Maxime Du Camp (1822-1894) learned photography from Gustav Le Gray shortly before his departure from Paris and returned with over two hundred paper negatives. He wrote a book about the trip, illustrated with his own salt prints, which were widely admired at the time and are highly prized today. Perhaps the most memorable one depicts a diminutive figure perched on the crown of the stone-cut sculpture of Pharaoh Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, largely buried in sand (reproduced on the dustjacket here). Text in German. Top of spine and dustjacket lightly bumped. $125
- EAKINS, Thomas. Thomas Eakins: His Photographic Work, Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1969. Softcover, 10 ½ x 7 ½ inches, 78 pages, 82 halftone illustrations.
The text by Gordon Hendricks discusses Eakins’ relationship to his family, Walt Whitman, his pupils, his friends, his animals, the Academy of Fine Arts, and various other aspects of his life and work. The reproductions sometimes juxtapose his paintings with their related photographs. Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was a leading American realist painter, photographer, and educator in Philadelphia, from the 1870s until his death during World War I. He studied and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and made photographs of the figure, often as studies for his paintings. Errata slip laid in. Browning to spine and tiny edgewear to covers. $35
- EAKINS, Thomas. Gordon Hendricks, The Photographs of Thomas Eakins, New York: Grossman, 1972. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 10 ¼ x 11 inches, 214 pages, 291 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
This was the first major monograph on Eakins as a photographer, a revelation to many in both the painting and photography fields. It is heavily illustrated, with quality reproductions by Meriden Gravure, showing individuals, nudes, and motion studies. Also featured are over fifty photographs of Eakins himself, from age ten to a few years before he died. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is lightly smudged and rubbed. $250
- EAKINS, Thomas. The Olympia Galleries Important Collection of Photographs by Thomas Eakins and the Original Manuscript Record Book of the Art Students’ League of Philadelphia, New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1977. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 32 pages, 22 halftone illustrations.
Auction catalog for twenty-one albumen prints by Eakins. They show men in classical Greek costume and nude boys, men, and women, posing in the studio, swimming, and performing other athletic activities. The estimates for the prints ranged from $3,000 to $12,000. Tiny cover edgewear. $25
- EAKINS, Thomas. Photographer Thomas Eakins, Philadelphia: Olympia Galleries, 1981. Softcover, 8 x 10 inches, 50 pages, 49 halftone illustrations.
Comprises photographs by Eakins of groups, individuals, and nudes. The subject index includes names such as Alexander Calder, Joseph Pennell, and Walt Whitman. Essay by Dr. Ellwood C. Parry, III, and catalog notes by Dr. Robert Stubbs. Tiny loss to top of spine and tear to bottom. $35
- EAKINS, Thomas. Elizabeth Milroy, Guide to the Thomas Eakins Research Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1996. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 56 pages, unillustrated.
Covers archival holdings pertaining to Eakins in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Among them are correspondence, personal papers, exhibition reviews, sketchbooks, and modern prints from his negatives. Includes an extensive lifetime exhibition record and bibliography. Useful and nicely designed. Fine condition. $25
- EARLE, Edward W. Points of View: The Stereograph in America—A Cultural History, Rochester: Visual Studies Workshop, 1979. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 11 ¾ x 8 inches, 120 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Stated first edition, with ephemera.
A thoughtful study of the subject, with an introduction by V.S.W. director Nathan Lyons. In addition to Earle’s essay, the other contributions are “Stereographs: Local, National and International Art Worlds” by Howard S. Becker, “White Mountain Stereographs and the Development of a Collective Vision” by Thomas Southall, and “Pasteboard Masks, the Stereograph in American Culture, 1865-1910” by Harvey Green. Also includes a 65-page interpretive chronology, with illustrations and key developments. Laid into this copy is both a poster and a prospectus for the book. Usually seen in paperback. Tiny edgewear to bottom of cloth and top of dustjacket. $75
- EDMONDSON, G. W. From Epworth to London with John Wesley, Being Fifty Photo-Engravings of the Sacred Places of Methodism, Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe, 1890. Hardcover (gold and black-stamped brown cloth), 8 x 9 ¼ inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations.
Edmondson ventured to England to take photographs of places important to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist religion (“Methodism”), after he noticed that interest in Wesley’s life and writings was waning in the late nineteenth century. Among them was Wesley’s birthplace, homes, schools, pulpits, churches, and his London tomb. The straightforward images are accompanied by descriptive text by George John Stevenson. George W. Edmondson ran a portrait studio in Cleveland and in 1899 served as the president of the Photographers’ Association of Ohio. Covers worn. $50
- EGYPT.
Creative Camera, December 1979. This entire issue is devoted to “Early Photography in Egypt,” with an introduction by Garry Badger. The photographers represented by images and biographies are: Francis Frith, John Shaw Smith, J. B. Greene, C. G. Wheelhouse, Felix Teynard, W. Hammerschmidt, and Francis Bedford. Cover corners creased.
Procession to the Fallen Gods: Photography in Nineteenth-Century Egypt, Los Angeles:
- Paul Getty Museum, 1987. Brochure, 8 ¾ x 8 inches, 8 panels, 5 duotone illustrations. Reproductions by Greene, Du Camp, Teynard, and Henry Cammas. Fine condition.
Up the Nile: Egypt in 19th-Century Photographs, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2003. Brochure, 8 pages, unillustrated. Introduction by curator Christian A. Peterson, with biographies of Abdullah Freres, Hippolyte Arnoux, Antonio Beato, La Maison Bonfils, Francis Frith, J. Pascal Sebah, and Zangaki. Fine condition.
Group of three: $25
- EICKEMEYER, Carl. Over the Great Navajo Trail, New York: Carl Eickemeyer, 1900. Hardcover (silver and black-stamped turquoise cover), 8 ½ x 6 ½ inches, 270 pages, 51 halftone illustrations.
This volume presents the author’s interaction with members of the Navajo nation on their reservations in New Mexico and Arizona, according to him still an unusual occurrence in the 1890s. He expands on their customs, beliefs, tending of livestock, silverwork, and blanket weaving. He begins his introduction by stating that his Kodak camera “aided the manuscript to such an extent in portraying the strange and realistic scenes witnessed among these curiously interesting people, that it is my wish to use the same method in conveying the described impression to the reader in the present.” Carl Eickemeyer also wrote a book on the Pueblo and was the brother of pictorial/professional photographer Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. He is pictured in the frontispiece in such Western garb as a belt with bullets. The cover sports an attractive embossed design of a hanging belt with silver medallions. Ex-library copy with minimal markings: call number on spine, blind-stamped title page, and withdrawn stamp (no card pockets). $50
- FABIAN, Rainer, and Hans-Christian Adam. Masters of Early Travel Photography, New York: Vendome Press, 1983. Hardcover (silver-stamped green cloth), 12 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, 352 pages, 269 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
This substantial volume covers major nineteenth-century travel photographers in seven countries: Francis Frith and Maxime Du Camp in Egypt; Dunmore and Critcherson in Greenland; Kusakabe Kimbei, Felice Beato, and Baron Stillfried in Japan; Com Pedro II and Marc Ferrez in Brazil; Samuel Bourne and Deen Dayal in India; John Thomson in China; and Jackson, Muybridge, and Watkins in the American West. Some of the illustrations are very large, stretching across the gutter, and the authors provide capsule biographies. Near fine condition. $75
- FALLOWFIELD, Jonathan. Handbill, 8 ¾ x 5 ½ inches, 1890.
This printed handbill announces Fallowfield’s Central Photographic Store moving to a new location in London. The full text on the front reads: “Fallowfield’s/Central/ Photographic Stores/Charing Cross Road/(Six Doors from Oxford Street)/Will Open On/1st July, 1890/34 Years at Lower Marsh, Lambeth.” The back features a wood engraving of the new, four-story building and a map with its location marked. This is a rare piece of ephemera, with nice period typography, in various fonts. Jonathan Fallowfield commenced his photographic chemical and material warehouse in 1856. He sold it in 1888 but the new owner kept the Fallowfield name, and it continued operating for another century, finally being consumed by Sangers Photographic Wholesale in 1987. Ephemera like this rarely survived. Near fine condition, with a faint fold to one corner. $75
- FENTON, Roger. Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, Roger Fenton: Photographer of the Crimean War, London: Secker & Warburg, 1954. Hardcover (silver-stamped red cloth), 10 x 7 ½ inches, 106 pages, 85 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
This is the first book on Roger Fenton (1819-1869), a leading British nineteenth-century photographer. He took up photography in 1851 and a few years later was largely responsible for founding what is now the Royal Photographic Society. He photographed the Royal Family, the Crimean War, and worked for the British Museum. In 1862 he abandoned photography and resumed practicing law, his initial profession. The Gernsheims cover Fenton’s entire career, but most of the reproductions are of his Crimean pictures (his most famous body of work), which are bolstered by the text of many letters he wrote home during the excursion in 1855. In unusually nice condition (near fine), the dustjacket has minor rubbing, tiny edgewear, and one short tear. $100
- FENTON, Roger. John Hannavy, Roger Fenton of Crimble Hall, Boston: David R. Godine, 1976. Hardcover (gold-stamped green cloth), 11 ½ x 9 inches, 184 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Another examination of Fenton’s life and work, but with a fuller representation of images, including landscape, architecture, still lifes, and stereoscopic pictures. Near fine condition, in price-clipped and rubbed dustjacket. $75
- FERREZ, Gilberto, and Weston J. Naef. Pioneer Photographer of Brazil, 1840-1920, New York: Center for Inter-American Relations, 1976. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 8 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 144 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
The co-authors give a brief history of photography’s first eighty years in Brazil. Includes portraits of the Imperial Family and a map of the country keyed to a chronological grid with cities and photographers. The bulk of the book comprises biographies and pictures by fifteen Brazilian photographers, virtually all of them unknown to North Americans at the time. Among them: Milato Augusto de Azevedo, Victor Frond, and Marc Ferrez, the standout. This copy signed by author Naef. Fine condition. $75
- FERREZ, Gilberto. Photography in Brazil, 1840-1900, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth),
11 ¾ x 9 inches, 244 pages, 263 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first U.S. edition.
This is a thorough study of the major photographers and studios in nineteenth-century Brazil, with special emphasis on landscapes and city scenes. Much of the work was commissioned by the state, resulting in the largest photographic production of any Latin American country, and the majority is retained today by government-supported institutions. The book is organized by city, with a special section on Marc Ferrez, Brazil’s greatest photographer and the author’s grandfather. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with indentions on back. $45
- FISKE, George. Paul Hickman and Terence Pitts, George Fiske: Yosemite Photographer, Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press, 1980. Hardcover (silver-stamped maroon cloth), 12 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 118 pages, 80 duotone and 23 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
With an introduction by Beaumont Newhall, this volume rediscovers the work of Fiske, who photographed in Yosemite and Big Trees primarily during the 1870s and 1880s. Hickman addresses his life and work, and Pitts writes an appreciation of Fiske’s Yosemite Valley pictures. George Fiske (1835-1918) was a cameraman for Carleton E. Watkins and San Francisco’s Thomas Houseworth photographic publishing company. He eventually ran his own studio, living year-round in Yosemite for nearly forty years at the end of the nineteenth century. Ansel Adams called him “a top interpretive photographer.” This copy signed by Pitts. Scuffing along bottom edges of cloth. $50
- FLUKINGER, Roy. The Formative Years: Photography in Great Britain, 1839-1920, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 164 pages, halftone illustrations. Stated first edition, signed.
After curator Flukinger’s introduction, which is broken into three chronological periods, the book presents about 135 reproductions, largely drawn from the university’s stellar Gernsheim collection. Each is accompanied by analysis of both the picture and the maker’s contributions. Featured are portraits by William Henry Fox Talbot, Hill & Adamson, and Julia Margaret Cameron, architectural studies by Roger Fenton, expedition pictures by Francis Frith and Herbert G. Pointing, nudes by Oscar G. Rejlander, and work by unknown photographers. This copy inscribed and dated 1999 by Flukinger. Issued without a dustjacket, with bump to bottom of spine. $35
- FONTANELLA, Lee. Photography in Spain in the Nineteenth Century, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, and Delahunty Gallery, Dallas, 1983. Softcover,
11 ¾ x 8 ¾ inches, 40 pages, halftone illustrations. With ephemera.
This is a dealers’ catalog, offering 67 items for sale, with a brief history of nineteenth-century Spanish photography. There are pictures and biographies of the following photographers, many of them unknown outside of the country: Beauchy Family, Frank Charteris, Charles Clifford, José Garcia Ayola, Juan Laurent, Francisco de Leygonier, Pedro Martinez de Hebert, Alejandro Massari, Luis León Massón, Auguste Muriel, R. P. Napper, and José Spreafico. Also includes images of seventeen stamps, signatures, and marks of photographers. Laid into this copy is a pricelist. Near fine condition. $35
- French Primitive Photography, New York: Aperture, 1970. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 8 ¼ inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations.
“Primitive” here signifies the first thirty years of photography, when photographers used primarily the daguerreotype and paper negative processes. Photographer Minor White provided an introduction, curator Robert Sobieszek wrote the essay, and Sobieszek and collector André Jammes add comments about many of the well-reproduced plates. Among the photographers represented are Hippolyte Bayard, Adolphe Braun, Charles Nègre, and Henry Le Secq. Near fine condition. $35
- FRITH, Francis. R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1882. Hardcover (gold-stamped red cloth), 8 x
5 ½ inches, 516 and 566 pages (two volumes), 51 photogravures.
A longtime favorite novel set in seventeenth-century England. First published in 1869, this is the twentieth edition. Thirteen of the images are by the Philadelphia photographer Charles L. Mitchell, but Frith provided the vast majority. Well rendered as grain gravures, they depict various locales mentioned in the text, such as Doone Valley, Castle Rock, and Dunster Castle, and have captioned tissue guards. Francis Frith (1822-1898) was a top nineteenth-century English photographer and the first one of importance to visit Egypt. He traveled fifteen hundred miles up the Nile and illustrated a number of books and portfolios with the resulting prints. His most noteworthy pictures were mammoth-size (16 x 20 inch) albumen prints of the Pyramids and Sphinx. Settling in Reigate, England, Frith opened a photographic printing business that became the largest in all of Europe. F. Frith and Company offered prints and postcards of the United Kingdom for decades, only closing its doors in 1971. Front hinge loose, with new endpaper, spines lightly darkened, minor wear to covers. Set of two: $100
- FRITH, Francis. R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor, Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates, 1882.
Another set, identical except for the publisher and color of cloth, which is black. Minor cover wear. Set of two: $100
- FRITH, Francis. Bill Jay, Victorian Cameraman: Francis Frith’s Views of Rural England, 1850-1898, Newton Abbot, England: David & Charles, 1973. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 9 ¾ x 7 ½ inches, 112 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Includes Jay’s essay on Frith’s life and work. The reproductions span England’s geography and lifestyle during the second half of the nineteenth century, in pictures made largely by operators for Frith’s large photographic establishment: river scenes, the countryside, townscapes, the coast, and places “Off the Beaten Track.” Near fine condition. $35
- FRITH, Francis. Comparative Photography: A Century of Change in Egypt and Israel, Carmel, California: Friends of Photography, 1977. Softcover, 10 x 8 ½ inches, 56 pages, 46 halftone illustrations.
Issued as the Friends’ Untitled number 17, this publication compares twenty-two of Frith’s images from the 1850s with new ones of the same scene by Jane Reese Williams. They reveal both restoration and neglect, and sometimes don’t even seem to picture the same subject. Introduction by Brian M. Fagan. Near fine condition. $35
- FRITH, Francis. Francis Frith’s Travels: A Photographic Journey Through Victorian Britain, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1985. Hardcover (gold-stamped paper over boards), 10 x 8 inches, 192 pages, 198 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
An extended sampling of British images from the Francis Frith Collection of over 300,000 photographs, still operating at the time in Andover, England. Derek Wilson provided the introductory essay on the photographer, “The Compulsive Traveler.” Fine condition. $35
- FRITH, Francis. Jean Vercoutter, L’Egypte à la Chambre Noire: Francis Frith, Photographe de l’Egypte Retrouvée, Italy: Editions Gallimard, 2002. Hardcover (white and blind-stamped paper over boards), 9 ½ x 11 ¼ inches, 128 pages, 58 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Vercoutter and curator Pamela Roberts provide brief introductions, after which are pairs of full-page reproductions and descriptions of the scenes. They traverse the River Nile from the pyramids at Giza to the fifth cataract in Nubia. Text in Italian. Near fine condition. $75
- FRITH, Francis. Douglas R. Nickel, Francis Frith in Egypt and Palestine: A Victorian Photographer Abroad, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2004. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth spine and paper over boards), 11 ¼ x 10 inches, 240 pages, 85 duotones illustrations, dustjacket.
This is the most complete and scholarly monograph on the great Mr. Frith. It features an insightful essay, high-quality reproductions, and an elegant design. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $95
- FRITH, Francis. Richard Lunn, Francis Frith’s Egypt and the Holy Land: The Pioneering Photographic Expeditions to the Middle East, Teffont, Salisbury, England: Francis Frith Collection, 2005. Hardcover (gold-stamped paper over boards),
9 ¼ x 11 inches, 234 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Lunn covers Frith as a pioneer photographer and explorer, the technical aspects of his images and their publication, and then gives an account of following Frith’s footsteps through modern Egypt. Reproductions of Frith’s albumen prints are presented with maps, his writings, and recent color images of the same places. Near fine condition. $75
- FRITH, Francis.
Egypt and the Holy Land in Historic Photographs: 77 Views by Francis Frith, New York: Dover, 1980. Softcover, 116 pages, 12 x 9 inches, 77 halftone illustrations. Introduction and bibliography by librarian Julia Van Haaften and commentary by professor Jon E. Manchip White. Tiny edgewear.
Masters of Photography: Francis Frith, London: Macdonald, 1985. Softcover, 12 x 10 ¼ inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations. Text by Joanna Talbot (apparently no relation to the English photography inventor). Features full-page reproductions of Frith images, from England, Wales, and Egypt that, according to the cover are “suitable for framing.” Near fine condition.
David & Charles Presents the Francis Frith Collection of Victorian Photographs, Andover, Hampshire, England: Francis Frith Collection, c. 1985. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 5 ¾ inches, 48 pages, halftone illustrations. Includes text about Frith and the collection, but is a sales catalog, offering a list of over 5,000 views, from Avon to Wales. Features information about prices, frames, and the quality of the prints. Form letter laid in. Near fine condition.
Group of three: $35
- “From Today Painting is Dead:” The Beginnings of Photography, London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1972. Softcover, 10 ½ x 8 inches, 110 pages, 50 halftone illustrations.
An important, early catalog that accompanied an exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and covered primarily European photography through the 1880s, during the reign of the daguerreotype, calotype, and albumen print. The title phrase was uttered by French painter Paul Delaroche, when he first saw a daguerreotype, lamenting over the startling verisimilitude of the new medium. Includes three short essays on photography before the dry plate, portrait photography, and photography as social documentation. The sprawling show comprised no less than 914 items, such as cameras, jewelry, albums, books, and individual pictures. Among the photographers whose work is reproduced here are Talbot, Fenton, Rejlander, Robinson, Cameron, Frith, and Le Gray. Light cover wear. $35
- GARDNER, Alexander. Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, New York: Dover, 1959. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 10 ½ inches, 120 pages, 100 halftone illustrations.
This is the Dover reprint of Gardner’s most important contribution to the history of photography. It was initially issued as a two-volume set, with one hundred tipped-in albumen prints. Here, E. F. Bleiler provides an introduction, and each plate is accompanied by the original text describing the scene. Among the most famous pictures included is the dead sharpshooter with his rifle propped up, at Gettysburg in July 1863. While Gardner made all the prints for the original book, some of the negatives were exposed by his assistants, such as Timothy H. O’Sullivan, who received credit. Scottish-born Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) came to the United States in 1856 and by two years later was running the Washington, D.C. studio of Mathew Brady, for whom he initially photographed the Civil War. He operated his own studio beginning in 1863 and became the official photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad a few years later. Gardner made many portraits of Abraham Lincoln and also photographed the hanging of the conspirators in the president’s assassination. Rubbing and a few bends to covers. $25
- GARDNER, Alexander. Brooks Johnson, An Enduring Interest: The Photographs of Alexander Gardner, Norfolk, Virginia: Chrysler Museum, 1991. Softcover, 10 x 8 inches, 134 pages, duotone illustrations.
This publication, which accompanied an exhibition at the Chrysler Museum, covers Gardner’s whole career, not just his Civil War period, for which he is best known. Donald McCoo addresses his early life in Scotland, William Stapp writes about the war, Lloyd Ostendorf discusses Lincoln and the conspiracy against him, Susan Danly covers the railroad and Western expansion, and Paula Richardson Fleming finishes with Gardner’s work with the North American Indians during the 1860-70s. Covers and pages wrinkled. $25
- GARDNER, Alexander. Anthony W. Lee and Elizabeth Young, On Alexander Gardner’s “Photographic Sketch Book” of the Civil War, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Softcover, 8 x 6 inches, 120 pages, 27 halftone illustrations.
The only stand-alone investigation of Gardner’s monumental publication, with separate essays by an art historian and a literary scholar, sometimes with differing interpretations. The introduction posits that the Photographic Sketch Book “is a highly selective account of the war. In this volume, we point to places where Gardner’s choices can be glimpsed and explore how we can understand the logic behind his selections and their partisan nature. As our staring point, we take seriously that the Photographic Sketch Book is made of not only images but also words.” Tiny wear to one corner. $25
- GERNSHEIM, Helmut and Alison. The History of Photography, From the Camera Obscura to the Beginning of the Modern Era, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 11 ¾ x 8 ¾ inches, 600 pages, 390 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
The Gernsheim’s massive history up until about 1910, published in the year of Alison’s death. Long considered authoritative on nineteenth-century photography, it covers the medium’s prehistory, invention, and then numerous formats, processes, and movements, ending with pictorialism. Near fine condition, with previous owner’s blindstamp on the title page and a small tape-repaired tear on the front of the dustjacket. $350
- GERNSHEIM, Helmut. Photo-Classics I: Victorian Photography, London: Photo-Graphic Editions, 1970. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches, 16 pages, 20 halftone illustrations. With ephemera.
This prospectus announces the publication of a portfolio of ten copy photographs of originals in the University of Texas’ Gernsheim Collection. Among the pictures (all reproduced) is work by Roger Fenton, Talbot, Hill & Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, and John Thomson. The portfolio of sepia-toned bromide prints was priced at $300. The back of the brochure also promotes upcoming portfolios of original prints by Werner Bischof, Erich Solomon, and two other photographers. Laid in a postcard allowing customers to reserve copies of the portfolios. A little-known, curious item. Covers rubbed, and lightly bent. $25
- GERNSHEIM, Helmut. The Origins of Photography, New York: Thames & Hudson, 1982. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 11 ¼ x 10 inches, 280 pages, 191 duotone illustrations, dustjacket, slipcase.
Gernsheim’s in-depth study of the earliest years of the medium, beginning with its prehistory and going only until the 1850s. He covers heliography, the daguerreotype, and the calotype in Great Britain, Europe, America, and other countries. Among the photographers given much attention are the inventors Bayard, Daguerre, Niépce, and Talbot. This was the first installment in an anticipated revision of Gernsheim’s entire 1969 History. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $125
- GERNSHEIM, Helmut. The Rise of Photography, 1850-1880: The Age of Collodion, New York: Thames & Hudson, 1987. Hardcover (silver-stamped black cloth), 11 ¼ x 10 inches, 286 pages, 236 duotone and color illustrations, dustjacket.
This volume continues where the above one left off, at the middle of the nineteenth century, when wet-collodion negatives and albumen paper were invented. A perfect match to produce rich and finely detailed images, they represent much of the century’s photography—a true golden age. Major photographers of this period were Julia Margaret Cameron, Nadar, Carleton Watkins, Francis Frith, and Mathew Brady. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny dents and folds. $125
- GOLDSCHMIDT, Lucien, and Weston J. Naef. The Truthful Lens: A Survey of the Photographically Illustrated Book, 1844-1914, New York: Grolier Club, 1980. Hardcover (gold stamped black cloth with leather strip on spine), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 244 pages, 172 halftone illustrations, slipcase.
This handsome production, issued without a dustjacket, was the first major investigation of the subject. It covers nearly two hundred publications that were illustrated with salt, albumen, and other original photographic prints. After essays by book dealer Lucien Goldschmidt and museum curator Weston Naef, the section of reproductions is organized by subjects such as portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. The catalogue includes detailed entries on such outstanding publications as William Henry Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature (1844), Félix Teynard’s Egypte et Nubie (1858), Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War (1866), and Peter Henry Emerson’s Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads (1886). This is a very important scholarly work and an essential reference for understanding both photographically illustrated books and nineteenth and early-twentieth-century photography in general. The text is letterpress printed and the book was issued in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Mint condition, in slipcase, shrink wrap, and original shipping carton. $350
- GREENHILL, Ralph. Early Canadian Photography, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1965. Hardcover (black-stamped tan cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 ¾ inches, 174 pages, 130 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
The front flap states that “This superb book is both a history of early photography, with special reference to Canada, and a photographic study of Canada, from the decade before Confederation to the Riel Rebellion, and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885.” It covers the eras of the calotype, daguerreotype, wet-plate collodion, and dry plate, plus has chapters on “The West, the North, and British Columbia” and “Photography and the Printed Page.” An important early reference, that was revised and expanded in a later edition. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is browned, rubbed, and torn in a few places. $45
- GURNEY, Jeremiah. Christian A. Peterson, Chaining the Sun: Portraits by Jeremiah Gurney, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1999. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 10 ¼ x 7 inches, 104 pages, 60 duotone illustrations (2 in color), bellyband.
This is the only monograph on Gurney, a leading nineteenth-century American portrait photographer, based on the museum’s extensive collection of his material. It covers his life and work, making daguerreotypes, card photographs, stereocards, and illustrating a few books. Jeremiah Gurney (1812-1895) and Mathew Brady both ran portrait studios on New York’s fashionable Broadway Avenue, competing fiercely for well-known subjects and for prizes at photographic exhibitions. Each began their career making daguerreotypes in the early 1840s, but by 1853 it was Gurney who became the national number-one portraitist, winning in that year the coveted Anthony pitcher. In 1868, Humphrey’s Journal, a leading photographic magazine, stated that he still stood “preeminent in New York.” Ten years later Brady was declaring bankruptcy while Gurney was turning his thriving business over to his son, who ran it for another twenty years. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $35
- GURNEY, Jeremiah. Christian A. Peterson, Chaining the Sun: Portraits by Jeremiah Gurney, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1999. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 10 ¼ x 7 inches, 104 pages, 60 duotone illustrations (2 in color), bellyband.
This copy features black cloth, instead of brown (as above), and rounded outside corners, to match the rounded corners of the pages. The bindery produced a small number of these for their own purposes, and they were never available on the market. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $45
- HAWARDEN, Clementina. Graham Ovenden, Clementina: Lady Hawarden, London: Academy Editions, 1974. Hardcover (gold-stamped red paper over boards), 11 ¾ x 8 ¾ inches, 112 pages, 106 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Features primarily Hawarden’s indoor portraits of upper-class English women from the middle of the nineteenth century. Her Victorian subjects are well dressed and coiffed. “She is representative of those amateur photographers who adopted the poses and self-consciousness of art photography while avoiding its monumentality and didacticism.” Hawarden (1822-1865), whose work was admired by Lewis Carroll, was part of an aristocratic Scottish family and one of her sons was elected to the House of Lords. Near fine condition, in lightly wrinkled and rubbed dustjacket. $25
- HAWORTH-BOOTH, Mark. The Golden Age of British Photography, 1839-1900, Millerton, New York: Aperture, 1984. Hardcover (gold-stamped gray cloth), 12 x 10 inches, 192 pages, duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
This book accompanied a traveling exhibition of outstanding work drawn from such rich collections as the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and the Royal Photographic Society (Bath, England). In addition to V & A curator Haworth-Booth, other contributing scholars are William Buchanan, Valerie Lloyd, Ian Jeffrey, and Mike Weaver. They write about topics such as “Picturesque Britain and the Industrial Age,” “The Grand Tour,” and “Aristocratic Amateurs.” Major photographers with chapters of their own are Talbot, Fenton, Cameron, Emerson, and Annan. A sumptuous and important book. This copy is neatly signed by Haworth-Booth. Fine condition. $125
- HAYNES, F. Jay. Freeman Tilden, Following the Frontier with F. Jay Haynes, Pioneer Photographer of the Old West, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964. Hardcover (gold and silver-stamped blue cloth and brown-stamped orange cloth), 10 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, 416 pages, 244 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This thick volume was the first book on Haynes, telling his story in context of the Western expansion of the United States during the mid to late-nineteenth century. Frank Jay Haynes (1853-1921) began as photographer in Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1876, securing the same year a contract with the Northern Pacific Railroad to photograph along its line, work that lasted three decades. In 1884, he obtained a lease from the U.S. Government to open a studio in Yellowstone National Park, and he served as the site’s official photographer for over thirty years. Haynes ran a portrait studio in St. Paul, Minnesota, beginning in 1895, and retired about twenty years later. During his long and productive career, he pictured the landscape and people, including Native Americans, of much of the Northwest. Near fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket that is chipped, wrinkled, and tape-repaired. $75
- HAYNES, F. Jay. F. Jay Haynes, Photographer, Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 1981. Hardcover (gold and blind-stamped maroon cloth), 9 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches, 192 pages, 160 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a sampler of the Montana Historical Society’s collection of Haynes material, by far the country’s largest, with over 20,000 extant photographs. The text, by museum director Robert Archibald and other staff members, presents an overview of the photographer’s life and career, with particular emphasis on the development of his business. Images divided by periods of his career: small town beginnings, traveling photographer, Northern Pacific Railroad, Life in the West, Yellowstone National Park, and the Western landscape. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with a few wrinkles and nicks. $50
- HAYNES, F. Jay. F. Jay Haynes: Fifty Views, Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 1981. Softcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches, 32 pages, 15 halftone illustrations.
Catalog for traveling exhibition circulated by the historical society. Includes text by Amy Stark, a checklist, and images dating from the 1870s to 1890s, from South Dakota, Montana Territory, Washington, and Alaska. On the cover is the Pillars of Hercules rock formation, bisected by a railroad bed, on the Columbia River. Near fine condition. $25
- HAYNES, F. Jay. Edward W. Nolan, Northern Pacific Views: The Railroad Photography of F. Jay Haynes, 1876-1905, Helena: Montana Historical Society, 1983. Hardcover (gold-stamped red cloth), 9 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches, 206 pages, 201 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a good companion piece to the general overview of the work of Haynes, two entries above. It focuses on the photographs he made for the Northern Pacific Railroad that stretched from the Great Lakes (St. Paul) to Puget Sound (Seattle), over thirty years. While some depict locomotives and car interiors, most show the budding cities and expansive landscape along the rail line, made as promotional pictures in order to gain ridership. The relationship between photographer and railroad was mutually beneficial—launching Haynes’ career and building business for the Northern Pacific. Near fine condition. $45
- HAYNES, F. Jay. Ephemera.
Cabinet card, portrait of woman (Mabel Michaels Wilson?), c. 1900. Silver print,
5 ½-x-4-inch print, on 6 ½-x-4 ¼-inch mount, gilt edges. “Haynes” is printed on both the front and back of the mount, the rear indicating the studio was at the corner of Jackson Street and Sixth, in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota.
Haynes Catalog 36, St. Paul: Haynes Picture Shops, 1936. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 28 pages, halftone illustrations. This catalog illustrates how the Haynes photographic studio, fifteen years after the founder’s death, had morphed into a populist picture shop, with a summer branch in Yellowstone Park. The front cover reproduces a scene from Yellowstone’s Mammoth Hot Springs and the rear an image of Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, with the Haynes building superimposed upon it, in an hilarious disconnect of scale. Among the catalog’s many offerings are albums, folders, books, “colorgravures,” lantern slides, hand-painted photographs, postcards, playing cards, etchings, and lithographs. Most of the subjects are scenes in Yellowstone National Park, but also include landscapes from elsewhere in the West and Native Americans. And Haynes was not the sole maker, as there are contributions by Charles M. Russell, William Henry Jackson, and others. A very illuminating item.
Pair: $35
- HERSCHEL, John. Larry J. Schaaf, Tracings of Light: Sir John Herschel & the Camera Lucida, San Francisco: Friends of Photography, 1990. Hardcover (blind-stamped black cloth), 10 x 13 ½ inches, 120 pages, 79 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) was an accomplished English scientist and promoter of the concept of photography, doing fundamental research and inventing hypo fixer. Before the invention of photography, he made hundreds of drawings using the camera lucida, an instrument that allowed individuals to view a scene from nature and a sheet of paper simultaneously, as an aid in their drawing. Making realistic renderings was still a challenge and Herschel was among those who succeeded at creating convincing optically-aided drawings. Scholar Schaaf provides fresh information about Herschel, his circle, their role in early photography, and the importance of the camera lucida. Near fine condition. $50
- HERSHKOWITZ, Robert. The British Photographer Abroad: The First Thirty Years, London: Robert Hershkowitz, 1980. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 9 ½ x 11 ¼ inches, 96 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Dealer and collector Hershkowitz’s overview of amateur and professionals from Britain taking their cameras to places as distant as Burma, Australia, Russia, and Egypt, to make calotypes, daguerreotypes, and albumen prints. Among the big names are William Henry Fox Talbot, Robert MacPherson, Roger Fenton, Felice Beato, Samuel Bourne, Eadweard Muybridge, and Francis Frith. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with separating plastic coating. $35
- HEYMAN, Therese Thau. Pioneer Photography of the Great Basin, Reno: Sierra Nevada Museum of Art, 1984. Softcover, 8 ½ x 9 inches, 28 pages, 12 halftone illustrations.
Catalog accompanying an exhibition of photographs made in an elevated area that comprises most of Nevada and parts of Oregon, Utah and California, termed the “Great Basin.” Among the featured nineteenth-century photographers are Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, A. J. Russell, and I. W. Taber. Near fine condition. $25
- HILL, David Octavius. Heinrich Schwarz, David Octavius Hill, Master of Photography, New York: Viking Press, 1931. Hardcover (blind and gold-stamped black cloth), 11 ¾ x 9 ¼ inches, 230 pages, 80 halftone illustrations.
This is one of the earliest biographies on a photographer, first appearing in German and preceding our current understanding of Hill’s collaboration with Robert Adamson. The portraits are of both prominent and common British men and women, such as Lady Elizabeth Eastlake and John Ruskin. Includes two profile portraits of Hill by Adamson and biographical information on many of the sitters. David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) was a pioneering British photographer who took up the medium when he was commissioned in 1843 to make a painting of the 474 ministers of the Church of Scotland. Hill and Adamson’s calotype portraits are now renowned for their lighting and poses. Endpapers browned, previous’ owner’s name and date, and light edgewear to covers. $150
- HILL, David Octavius. Dr. Heinrich L. Nickel, David Octavius Hill: Wurzeln und Wirkungen Seiner Lichtbildkunst, Halle, Germany: Fotokinoverlag Halle, 1960. Hardcover (black-stamped gray cloth), 9 ¼ x 6 ½ inches, 96 pages, 45 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
A small examination of the life and work of Hill (and Adamson). Includes biographic information on some of the 35 individuals who are seen in full-page portraits, like Professor Alexander Monro. Text in German. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is worn. $35
- HILLERS, John K. Don D. Fowler, “Photographed All the Best Scenery:” Jack Hillers’ Diary of the Powell Expeditions, 1871-1875, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1972. Hardcover (brown-stamped cream cloth), 7 ¾ x 11 inches, 226 pages, 44 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated second printing.
This represents the first publication of excerpts from Hillers’ personal journal of his time with the second expedition of the Colorado River, headed by scientist Major John Wesley Powell. He romantically records daily routines and the unusual challenges of navigating small boats through rapids and working with the wet-collodion negative process. Includes a few maps of the territory covered and images of the river, campsites, surrounding Grand Canyon and towering rock formations, plus Native Americans from Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. German-born “Jack” Hillers (1843-1925) came to America in 1852 and served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He photographed on expeditions to Southern Utah, Yosemite, the Southwest, and elsewhere, while working for the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of Ethnology and the United States Geological Survey until after World War I. Fine condition. $50
- HILLERS, John K. Don D. Fowler, The Western Photographs of John K. Hillers: “Myself in the Water,” Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. Hardcover (gold-stamped white cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 168 pages, 117 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Known to the Indians as “Myself in the Water,” Hillers “did much more than record scientific detail—he brought the arresting beauty and scope of western images to the rest of the country, and helped to fix the popular image of the rugged landscapes and people of the West.” In this book, Professor Fowler examines the full range of the photographer’s work, from his classic views of what is now Zion National Park to early, revealing pictures of the Indians of the Rio Grande pueblos and Hopi mesas. Mint condition, in opened shrink wrap. $50
- HILLIER, Bevis. Victorian Studio Photographs, Boston: David R. Godine, 1976. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 10 x 7 inches, 144 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Hillier provides an overview of the subject, Brian Coe writes about “The Techniques of Victorian Studio Photography,” and Russell Ash discusses the London studios of Alexander Bassano and (Joseph) Elliott & (Clarence) Fry. The bulk of the book comprises over one hundred full-page plates of individual sitters with biographical information. Among them are Ellen Terry, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, William Morris, and Queen Victoria. Top of spine lightly bumped, in rubbed dustjacket. $35
- HOBBLER, Dorothy and Thomas. Photographing the Frontier, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth and paper over boards), 9 ½ x 6 ¼ inches, 192 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
The Hobblers, a prolific husband/wife author team turn their attention to the nineteenth-century American West in photographs. Their five chapters cover: early photographers, photographing the railroads, the government surveys, the soldiers and Native Americas, and frontier life in general. Near fine condition. $25
- HOWE, Kathleen Stewart. Excursions Along the Nile: The Photographic Discovery of Ancient Egypt, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1993. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 11 ¼ x 10 ¾ inches, 176 pages, 115 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
Dr. Howe examines the exploration of Egypt by photographers during the nineteenth century, by discussing the country’s attraction, early hand-illustrated books, pilgrims and adventurers, photographing by calotype and wet-collodion, and the marketing and packaging of both the photographs and the country. Features work by Maxime Du Camp, Félix Teynard, J. B. Greene, Francis Frith, and others. Collector Michael G. Wilson, who provided most of the images, writes notes to selected plates. A focused and nicely presented publication. Near fine condition. $75
- HUFFMAN, L. A. Mark H. Brown and W. R. Felton, Before Barbed Wire: L. A. Huffman, Photographer on Horseback, New York: Henry Holt, 1956. Hardcover (green and white-stamped black cloth), 256 pages, 124 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Tells the story of the early days on the open range of America’s West in the late nineteenth century. Often on long trips, Huffman recorded the daily life of cowboys, as they hunted, camped, rode, herded, and branded. He made portraits of Native Americans and documented the slaughter of buffalo. Laton Alton Huffman (1854-1931) learned photography in his father’s studio, worked as an Army post photographer, and ran his own business in Miles City, Montana. Tiny edgewear to cloth, in wrinkled and worn dustjacket. $25
- ILES, George. Flame, Electricity, and the Camera, New York: Doubleday & McClure, 1900. Hardcover (gold, red, and black-stamped green cloth), 9 ¼ x 6 inches, 398 pages, 115 halftone illustrations (1 in color).
The subtitle of this exhaustive book sums up its goal to cover “Man’s Progress from the First Kindling of Fire to the Wireless Telegraphs and the Photography of Color.” Iles devotes chapters to such topics as metal, batteries, the telegraph, the telephone, and six on photographic subjects, like the dry plate, color photography, and photographing the sky. The color frontispiece of a butterfly breaks down the four printing plates used to produce a full-color image. George Iles (1852-1942) wrote and edited many books; this one went through twenty-five editions, this being the first. Front hinge slightly cracked and tiny wear to tips. $45
- Illustrated Catalogue of Photograph Marriage Certificates, York, Pennsylvania: Crider and Brother, c. 1879. Softcover, 5 ¾ x 3 ¾ inches, 20 pages, line illustrations.
This pocket-size catalog offers marriage certificates with openings for original photographs of the bridge and groom. The 19-x-15-inch engraved items were available plain and in color, and one design even included a third opening, for a picture of the officiating clergyman. Crider and Brother claimed to have invented the concept, stating in the catalog, “In the year 1865 the idea first originated that a Photograph Marriage Certificate was a want that was long desired and would be duly appreciated. Acting upon the thought, a certificate was duly designed and copyrighted, which we styled the Double-Heart.” The Criders operated a leading bookstore in southern Pennsylvania. It is featured in an engraving on the purple cover of this catalog, which also sports fabulous nineteenth-century typography, in no less than six different fonts. An entertaining and unusual piece. (One actual 1888 framed marriage certificate, with bride and groom portraits, also available; please inquire.) Very mild creases to cover. $350
- Images of America: Early Photography, 1839-1900, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1957. Softcover, 10 ¼ x 7 ½ inches, 88 pages, halftone illustrations.
Exhibition catalog with a short essay by Beaumont Newhall, then curator at the George Eastman House. It was a large show, of nearly 350 photographs, albums, and cameras, largely from the Library of Congress’ own collection. The catalog entries and images are arranged chronologically by subject matter: the Nation’s Capital, portraits of presidents, western frontier, occupations, transportation, sports, arts, children, news photography, etc. Among the reproductions are work by Mathew B. Brady, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, and Charles H. Currier. Previous owner’s label, light edgewear and rubbing to covers. $25
- ISENBURG, Matthew R. American Daguerreotypes from the Matthew R. Isenburg Collection, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Art Museum, 1989. Hardcover (gold-stamped maroon cloth), 11 x 8 ¾ inches, 130 pages, duotone and color illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a nicely designed and printed book, highlighting an important collection of daguerreotypes. It features portraits and images of the California gold rush and other fabulous outdoor scenes, like Niagara Falls and the federal capitol building in 1846. Among the makers are John Plumbe, Jr., Platt D. Babbitt, Robert H. Vance, and Jeremiah Gurney. The collector provides the essay “The Wonder of the American Daguerreotype” and professor Alan Trachtenberg “The Daguerreotype: American Icon.” Previous owner’s name, near fine condition, in opened shrink wrap. $100
- JACKSON, William Henry. Cañons of Colorado from Photographs by W. H. Jackson, Denver: Frank S. Thayer, c. 1895. Cloth folder (black-stamped green cloth with mounted reproduction), 8 ¼ x 5 ½ inches, 16 halftone illustrations (accordion style).
Features an attractively designed cover, with snap closer. The pictures inside include a bird’s eye view of Black Canyon, Seven Falls, Los Pinos Canyon in winter, and other shots in Arkansas, Colorado, and elsewhere. William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) is probably the best-known photographer of the American frontier and lived into his ninety-ninth year. He spent most of the 1870s as the official photographer of the U.S. Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories, working in Wyoming and Colorado. The oversize prints he made of Yellowstone were largely responsible for the area being designated a national park by Congress. In 1879, he formed the Jackson Photographic Company in Denver, which specialized in landscapes commissioned by the railroads, and he was later associated with the Detroit Publishing Company. Light edgewear on front cover, with marks on title page. $225
- JACKSON, William Henry. Ephemera.
Fritiof Fryxell, William H. Jackson, Photographer, Artist, Explorer, Washington, D.C.: Museum of U.S. Department of the Interior, 1940. Softcover, 8 x 6 inches, 22 pages, 2 halftone illustrations. Exhibition catalog with text that originally appeared in the American Annual of Photography 1939.
- L. Duffus, “He Photographed the West When It Was New,” New Times Book Review, August 4, 1940 (on original newsprint). Book review of Jackson’s new autobiography, Time Exposure.
“W. H. Jackson Dies; Photographer, 99,” New York Times, July 1, 1942 (on original newsprint). With a portrait of him, and the subtitle, “Noted for Pictures He Took of Yellowstone Park Region and American Frontier/Fought in the Civil War/Artist, Writer and Explorer Was Active Until Injured in Fall at Home on Friday.”
Group of three nice vintage items, from the last years of Jackson’s life. $25
- JACKSON, William Henry. Clarence S. Jackson, Pageant of the Pioneers: The Veritable Art of William Henry Jackson, “Picture Maker of the Old West,” Minden, Nebraska: Pioneer Village, 1958. Hardcover (silver-stamped brown cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 90 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Signed by author.
With the exception of a handful of Indian portraits, this volume comprises paintings and drawings by Jackson, not his more well-known Western photographs. They depict wagon trains, landscapes, settlements, forts, miners, Pony Express riders, and more. Jackson produced them during the 1930s (when he was in his nineties), on commission from the American Pioneer Trails Association. This copy signed by Clarence Jackson. An unusual and entertaining Jackson item. Near fine condition, in a Pioneer Village (the publisher) plastic bag. $50
- JACKSON, William Henry. Clarence S. Jackson, Picture Maker of the Old West: William H. Jackson, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947. Hardcover (green and gray-stamped brown cloth), 12 x 9 ¼ inches, 308 pages, 393 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This was the first major book on Jackson, published shortly after his death and including some of his sketches and paintings. “This volume, carefully prepared under the direction of the Picture Maker’s son, Mr. C. S. Jackson, contains an unrivaled pictorial record which can never be duplicated. It was created by a great artist and photographer who himself played a part in the opening of the frontier country.” Foxing to endpapers; with a 1948 letter from Dr. D. E. McBroom, the superintendent of the South Dakota School and Home for the Feeble Minded, to his daughter, praising the book, taped in; one corner bumped, dustjacket worn, torn, and missing small pieces. $75
- JACKSON, William Henry. Aylesa Forsee, William Henry Jackson, Pioneer Photographer of the West, New York: Viking Press, 1964. Hardcover (brown-stamped yellow cloth), 8 ½ x 5 ¾ inches, 206 pages, 23 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Judging from the small scale and accessible text, this book was aimed at young adult readers. Fine condition. $25
- JACKSON, William Henry. Helen Markley Miller, Lens on the West: The Story of William Henry Jackson, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1966. Hardcover (gold-stamped black and brown cloth), 9 ½ x 6 ¼ inches, 192 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Another biography and history of the American West for young readers, as author Miller had previously written at least eight other popular and successful books for teenagers. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is rubbed, torn, and slightly worn. $25
- JACKSON, William Henry. Beaumont Newhall and Diana E. Edkins, William H. Jackson, Dobbs Ferry, New York: Morgan and Morgan, and the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1974. Hardcover (brown-stamped tan leatherette), 10 ¾ x 9 ¼ inches, 160 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
With a critical essay by William L. Broecker and a substantial chronology and bibliography, this is an early museum publication on Jackson. It also forms one of the titles in Morgan and Morgan’s prescient series of monographs on leading photographers. The brown-toned reproductions show Jackson’s main skills as a photographer of Native Americans and the Western American landscape during the late nineteenth century. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $45
- JACKSON, William Henry. William Henry Jackson, Picture Maker of the American West, New York: Janet Lehr, 1983. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 24 pages, 21 halftone illustrations.
Dealer’s catalog offering 16-x-20-inch albumen prints by Jackson, of such subjects as Price Canyon, Santa Fe’s Church of San Miguel, Upper Twin Lake, Grand Canyon, and Mount of the Holy Cross (in a vignette image), many with train tracks in the image. One corner bumped. $10
- JACKSON, William Henry. Peter Hales, William Henry Jackson, London: Macdonald, 1984. Softcover, 12 x 10 ½ inches, 64 pages, 29 halftone illustrations. Stated first edition. Signed.
The twenty-five full-page images date from the 1870s to nineties and are “Suitable for Framing,” according to the cover. They depict the hot springs in New Zealand, a railroad loop in India, a boat on the Suez Canal in Egypt, and American subjects, like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, for which he is most known. This copy signed by Hales. Tiny wear to two corners. $25
- JACKSON, William Henry. Frank Chambers, Hayden and His Men, Francis Paul Geoscience Literature, 1988. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 120 pages, 108 halftone illustrations.
The contents are demarcated in the book’s subtitle: “A selection of 108 photographs by William Henry Jackson of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories for the years 1870-1878, Ferdinand V. Hayden, geologist in charge.” Near fine condition. $35
- JACKSON, William Henry. Peter B. Hales, William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape, Philadelphia: Tempe University Press, 1988. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 8 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches, 356 pages, 193 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
Not just another overview of the photographer’s life and work, but a substantial investigation of “the conversion of America’s landscape from myth to scenery and Jackson’s effect on this cultural transformation. Here the author examines the ways Americans viewed their land, and the ways they acted on their beliefs. A study of how an individual effects and was affected by his culture, this is an engrossing story of the contradictions of American culture, the myths that encompass it and give it meaning, and their transformation over a century.” This copy signed by Hales. Near fine condition. $75
- JACKSON, William Henry. Thomas H. Harrell, William Henry Jackson: An Annotated Bibliography [1862 to 1995], Nevada City, California: Carl Mautz, 1995. Softcover, 56 pages, 3 halftone illustrations.
Dr. Harrell provides about five hundred entries on Jackson, in the following categories; diaries and correspondence; autobiographies, articles, reports and typescripts by Jackson; Harper’s Weekly articles; catalogs of Jackson’s photographs; published albums of Jackson photographs; books, monographs, manuscripts, and recordings on Jackson; book chapters on Jackson; journal, magazine, and newspaper articles related to Jackson; and Jackson photographs and paintings reproduced in other sources. Sounds pretty compete (to its date) to me. Fine condition. $25
- JACKSON, William Henry. Douglas Waitley, William Henry Jackson: Framing the Frontier, Missoula: Montana: Mountain Press, 1998. Hardcover (copper-stamped white cloth), 10 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, 218 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
“In recounting Jackson’s life and contributions, Waitley skillfully interweaves Jackson’s own words from his diaries with commentary on the challenges of the westward expansion, the excitement of the discoveries made in the new American West, and the development of photography as a documentary and commercial enterprise.” Features color reproductions of ten of Jackson’s paintings of Native Americans and pioneers in the western landscape. Near fine condition, with one indentation to back of dustjacket. $35
- JACKSON, William Henry. Bob Blair, William Henry Jackson’s “The Pioneer Photographer,” Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2005. Hardcover (gold and blind-stamped green cloth), 8 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches, 210 pages, 160 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is an expanded edition of Jackson’s first autobiography, published in 1929 and widely accepted as the most accurate about his pioneering days. Added to the original text are one hundred new and annotated reproductions of his photographs, drawings, paintings, and lithographs. “What emerges in words and image is a narrative of the expanding American West of the 1860s and 1870s and a still-young American nation. Additionally, this new edition details Jackson’s pioneering efforts in advancing photography as a commercial and documentary enterprise.” Fine condition, in opened shrink wrap. $75
- JAMMES, André and Marie-Thérèse. Niepce to Atget: The First Century of Photography from the Collection of André Jammes, Art Institute of Chicago, 1977. Softcover, 11 x 12 inches, 116 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Signed by curator.
Oversize exhibition catalog covering an important private collection of nineteenth-century photographs. Introduction by Chicago curator David Travis and text by the Jammeses on collecting and various aspects of their holdings. Features illustrations by Hippolyte Bayard, Charles Marville, Roger Fenton, Gustave Le Gray, Charles Nègre, and other early masters. This copy signed by Travis. Near fine condition. $150
- JAMMES, André, and Eugenia Parry Janis. The Art of the French Calotype, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped cream cloth), 9 ½ x 10 ½ inches, 286 pages, duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
A pioneering and authoritative in-depth examination of French photography on paper before the wet-collodion process. It treats the calotype in relation to prints, paintings, and society in general, and establishes a French school of photography with Hippolyte Bayard as its leader. Nearly half of the book is made up of critical biographies of 150 French calotypists, among them Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, Henri Le Secq, Gustave Le Gray, and Charles Nègre. Smartly written by collector Jammes and scholar Janis, well-designed, and expertly printed by Meriden Gravure. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with a few scuffs and tiny edgewear. $150
- JENKINS, Reese V. Images & Enterprise: Technology and the American Photographic Industry, 1839-1925, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. Hardcover (yellow and white-stamped black cloth), 10 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, 372 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
The first comprehensive history of the American photographic industry, utilizing manuscript sources of firms like Scovill and Anthony and individuals like George Eastman. “The study exemplifies how technology, science, and business are related within a broad historical context. For the student of technical and business history, it fosters an understanding of the historic circumstances that sometimes favored technical innovation and at other times favored organizational or business creativity.” Includes technical, financial, and personnel information about many companies, like Agfa and Kodak. Four of the five chapters cover periods up to 1910: daguerreotype, collodion, gelatin plate, and amateur roll-film. Demonstrating the book’s usefulness, it was reprinted a few years later. Near fine condition, with a few short tears to dustjacket. $75
- JENNINGS, Payne. Photo Pictures of East Anglia, Ashtead, Surrey, England: The Studio, c. 1900. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 8 ¼ x
6 ½ inches, 136 pages, halftone illustrations.
With descriptive text by Annie Berlyn, straightforward photographs by Jennings of the architecture and landscape of the rural region east of London. He pictured farmers, fishermen, hikers, and such structures as cathedrals, churches, abbeys, bridges, colleges, houses, and barns. John Payne Jennings (1843-1926) photographically illustrated at least five books and made panoramic and scenic views of England that were used to promote travel and tourism in the late nineteenth century. Front hinge loose, with wear to tips. $35
- JENNINGS, Payne. Summer Holidays in North East England, London: Walter Scott, c. 1900. Hardcover (gold and black-stamped green cloth), 8 ½ x
6 ¾ inches, 144 pages, halftone illustrations, gilt edges.
Constance Cotterell provided the text to accompany Jennings’ views of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham, and Yorkshire. Rural scenes, as well as castles, water falls, rocks, abbeys, bridges, viaducts, and graveyards. The cover features a hand-rendered image of the bridge and castle at Alnwick. Front hinge loose, two previous owner’s names, and edgewear to cloth. $35
- JUSSIM, Estelle. Visual Communication and the Graphic Arts: Photographic Technologies in the Nineteenth Century, New York: R. R. Bowker, 1974. Hardcover (copper and metallic pink-stamped tan cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 364 pages, 121 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a detailed and insightful history of the close relationship of photography, photomechanical processes, and the graphic arts in the nineteenth century, by renowned professor Jussim, a communications theorist and art historian. She examines the time when photography was new and how it significantly altered the way other imagery was reproduced. Pressmen became skilled partners in innovated graphic art forms, as “photography led to a new ‘code,’ a new medium through which to express unique messages of truth, beauty, and reality.” Entire chapters are devoted to the illustrators Howard Pyle, William Hamilton Gibson, and Frederic Remington. Near fine condition. $75
- KLETT, Mark, Ellen Manchester, and JoAnn Verburg. Second View: The Rephotographic Survey Project, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. Hardcover (silver-stamped gray cloth), 9 ¼ x 12 ¼ inches, 214 pages, 260 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, with ephemera, signed.
Klett was the chief photographer, Manchester the project director, Verburg the project coordinator, and Gordon Bushaw and Rick Dingus were project photographers. Most of them provided text, as did critic/photographer Paul Berger. This is perhaps the most well-known of the many rephotographic projects that have been undertaken since. The crew located the sites of government survey photographs made during the late nineteenth century in the American West and then meticulously remade images from the same camera position and at the same time of day. Among the original photographers represented are William Henry Jackson, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, and Andrew J. Russell. The before and after shots are paired for easy comparison and are sometimes accompanied by site maps. This copy signed by Verburg, with an announcement for a 1979 exhibition of the work laid in. Fine condition, in dustjacket that is sunned (and turned to green), as is normal. $75
- KURUTZ, Gary F. California Books Illustrated with Original Photographs, 1856-1890, Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1996. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches, 36 pages, 6 halftone illustrations.
This is a nicely designed item on the subject, with the text in elegant letterpress. The checklist of ninety books, by Robert Bothamley, comprises books published in California, periodicals and illustrated directories, and books about California issued outside of the state. The reproductions include sheet music, a business card, frontispieces, and the half-title page of G. R. Fardon’s San Francisco Album, the first photographically illustrated book printed in California. A very useful reference, printed in an edition of only 100 copies. Fine condition. $75
- LE GRAY, Gustave. Eugenia Parry Janis, The Photography of Gustave Le Gray, Art Institute of Chicago and University of Chicago Press, 1987. Hardcover (gold-stamped orange cloth), 10 x 12 ¼ inches, 184 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
This is the authoritative book on Le Gray (1820-1884), one of France’s most important nineteenth-century photographers. It includes an intelligent essay by scholar Janis, covering nine time periods and bodies of work by Le Gray, from 1843 in Italy, to his 1850s seascapes (for which he is most revered), and finally Italy in the 1860s to 1880s. An elegantly designed and well printed monograph; everything you want in a fine book. Near fine condition. $150
- LE SECQ, Henri. Jean Garrigue, Chartres & Prose Poems, New York: Eakins Press, 1970. Softcover, 7 x 5 ½ inches, 62 pages, 7 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This little item features an exposé on Chartres Cathedral and ten prose poems by Garrigue. Married to the piece on Chartres are a handful of rich full-page images by Le Secq, from a century earlier. They show the clock, a doorway, and sculpture from the cathedral, plus unrelated images, such as a garden and harbor. Henri Le Secq (1818-1882) was a prominent French calotype photographer who worked during the 1850s, was a founding member of the Société Héliographique, and documented historical architecture of France. Includes pasted-in errata slip and a loose sheet indicating that the text was set on an IBM composer and the finished piece “given to Typophiles, with pleasure, by the Eakins Press.” Light edgewear. $25
- LESY, Michael. Wisconsin Death Trip, New York: Pantheon Books, 1973. Hardcover (silver-stamped purple cloth), 8 ¾ x 11 ¾ inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, signed.
Lesy’s groundbreaking mashup of vintage photographs and quotations from local Wisconsin newspapers, creating an important socio-historical interpretation of small-town America in the late nineteenth century. After the preface by Warren Susman, Lesy creates sections by year, from 1885 to 1900. The photographs, all by Charles Van Schaick from negatives at the Wisconsin State Historical Society, show people shot in his studio and elsewhere. The newspaper text emphasizes death, mental illness, and other human tragedies, making for haunting reading. This copy signed by Lesy. Fine condition, in a dustjacket with a few tears and minor creases. $250
- MARVILLE, Charles. Louis Cheronnet, Paris tel Qu’il Fut, Paris: Editions Tel, 1951. Softcover, 11 ½ x 8 ¾ inches, 100 pages, 104 photogravure illustrations, dustjacket.
Cheronnet discusses Paris “as it was” during the mid-nineteenth century and provides detailed notes on about 25 of the pictures. Marville pictures such scenes as windmills in Monmartre, Avenue de l’Opera, the Palais-Royal, Le Chateau des Tuileries, Le Pont-Neuf, and Notre-Dame. Many of the images, printed in rich brown gravure, show narrow Parisian streets, as precedents to the work of Eugene Atget. Painter-printmaker Charles Marville (1816-1879) commenced photography in the 1850s. He is most revered for his methodical survey during the 1860s of Paris’ meandering medieval passages and ancient structures soon to be destroyed by Baron Hussmann’s redesign of the city, with new wide boulevards. Text in French. Light wear to top of spine, two tears to dustjacket along spine, covers browned, but still attractive, in added glassine jacket. $150
- MARVILLE, Charles. Charles Marville: Photographs of Paris, 1852-1878, New York: French Institute/Alliance Francaise, 1981. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 7 inches, 68 pages, 44 duotone illustrations. Signed.
This nice little exhibition catalog covers Marville’s street photographs of Paris at the time of the Second Empire. Vintage street maps identify both the locations and camera angles for most of the images. Photo historian Maria Morris Hambourg, who is known for her work on Eugene Atget, provides the text. This copy inscribed by her. A little chipping to edges of fragile covers. $50
- MATHEWS, Oliver. Early Photographs and Early Photographers: A Survey in Dictionary Form, New York: Pitman, 1973. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 10 x 7 ½ inches, 200 pages, 252 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
After a brief introduction, Mathews covers the origins and prehistory of photography, provides a chronology (from 1558 to 1907) and brief biographical information on about 250 photographers, describes numerous photographic processes, and then addresses the modern market for early photographs (with some recorded prices). Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is rubbed and browned and wrinkled along the top. $35
- MATHEWS, Oliver. The Album of Carte-de-Visite and Cabinet Portrait Photographs, 1854-1914, London: Reedminster, 1974. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 10 x 7 ½ inches, 148 pages, 210 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
An early collectors’ guide to the prominent nineteenth-century card formats. Mathews discusses the history of each, photographers, sitters, other nineteenth-century photographic processes, and the market. Near fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket. $35
- MERTLE, Joseph S. J. S. Mertle Photomechanics Collection, St. Paul, Minnesota: 3M Company, 1960s. Softcover, 11 x 4 ¼ inches, 24 pages, unillustrated.
This is a checklist of 209 items, presumably for an exhibition. They are grouped in the following sections: Photography and Basic Photomechanics, Letterpress and Photoengraving, Color Reproduction, Halftone Process, Lithography and Photolithography, and Photo Intaglio Processes. Comprises books, samples, and other objects related to photography and photomechanical processes, the vast majority of them dating from the nineteenth century; included are an 1839 manual by Daguerre and a copy of Talbot’s Pencil of Nature. Joseph S. Mertle (1899-1976) was involved with the printing arts from the age of sixteen, when he apprenticed to a printer in Wisconsin. In 1937, he wrote the book Photolithography and Offset Printing, and for much of his life he edited trade magazines, such as Graphic Arts Monthly. He consulted to the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), which ended up acquiring his collection of about 7,500 books and other items on printing (now housed at the library of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). This catalog is rare; Worldcat.org locates only four copies in libraries. Light browning along spine and minor rubbing to covers. $100
- MISCELLANEOUS.
Touring the World: 19th-Century Travel Photographs, Amarillo, Texas: Amarillo Art Center, 1981. Softcover, 11 ½ x 7 ½ inches, 28 pages, 27 halftone illustrations. Exhibition catalog, with essays by David Turner, Bill Jay, and Roy Flukinger. Includes photographs from Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Israel, England, France, Italy, India, and Japan. Near fine condition.
Urbi et Orbi: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of the World’s Cities, Riverside: California Museum of Photography, 1983. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, 16 pages, 22 duotone illustrations. Issued as the museum’s CMP Bulletin, it includes an introduction by Joseph A. Baird, the collector who provided all of the photographs and the essay “A Picnic on a Gigantic Scale” by Susan Wladaver-Morgan. Features pictures from London, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Venice, Pompeii, Madrid, Zurich, Athens, Jerusalem, Algiers, Giza, Moscow, and Ceylon. Fine condition.
The Poetry of Place: Nineteenth-Century Topographic Photographs from the Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1992. Brochure, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 6 panels, unillustrated. Text by curator Christian A. Peterson, with biographies of Bennett, Bonfils, Frith, Jackson, O’Sullivan, Russell, Sommer, K. Tamamura, B. F. Upton, and Watkins. Fine condition.
Group of three: $25
- MISCELLANEOUS.
Vedute Della Camera: A Traveling Exhibition, Rochester: George Eastman House,
- 1970. Brochure, 8 ¾ x 3 ¾ inches, 6 panels, one halftone illustration. This brochure offers a traveling show of sixty nineteenth-century photographs of Italy, for a monthly fee of $300. Photographers represented include Fratelli Alinari, Gioacchino Altobelli, Carlo Pointi, and Giorgio Sommer. Fine condition.
Adam D. Weinberg, Majestic Inspirations, Incomparable Souvenirs, Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University, Rose Art Museum, 1997. Softcover, 8 ½ x 5 ½ inches, 28 pages, 1 halftone illustration. A small catalog for an exhibition of nineteenth-century photographs of the Mediterranean and Middle East from the university’s collection. Comprises work by Amodio, Arnoux, Bechard, Bonfils, Brogi, Naya, and Zangaki. Weinberg would go on to write a catalog on Giorgio Sommer for the Visual Studies Workshop and become the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he currently serves. This copy signed by Weinberg. Tiny spine wear.
Un Voyage Heliographique à Faire, Flushing, New York: Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College, 1981. Softcover, 6 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 40 pages, 14 halftone illustrations. Small catalog for an exhibition of work by five French photographers commissioned in 1851 to undertake the nation’s first survey of its architectural heritage. The Commission des Monuments Historiques, in Paris, hired Edouard-Denis Baldus, Hippolyte Bayard, Henri Le Secq, Gustave Le Gray, and O. Mestral, who produced only about 300 pictures, which were neither exhibited or published at the conclusion of the project, for reasons unknown. Joel A. Herschman and William W. Clark discuss the commission, attitudes about the new medium of photography, the five operators, and their technique. Light rubbing to cover.
Group of three: $25
- MORIARTY, Stephen Roger, and Morna O’Neill. A Gift of Light: Photographs in the Janos Scholz Collection, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002. Hardcover (white-stamped brown cloth), 11 ¼ x 10 ¼ inches, 196 pages, 112 four-color halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
This book accompanied an exhibition drawn from a collection of over 5,000 nineteenth-century photographs given to Notre Dame’s Snite Museum of Art. Moriarty’s two essays address the collector Scholz, plus nineteenth-century photographic techniques and processes, the experiments of William Henry Fox Talbot, and the contributions of French photographers. O’Neill examines the Grand Tour and the importance of photography in British Victorian everyday life, art, culture, and politics. Besides Talbot, major photographers represented include Nadar, Edouard-Denis Baldus, Gustav Le Gray, Charles Marville, and Lewis Carroll. This copy inscribed and dated 2003 by Moriarty. Near fine condition. $50
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. Animals in Motion: An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Muscular Actions, London: Chapman and Hall, 1907. Hardcover (gold-stamped red cloth), 9 ¾ x 12 ½ inches, 264 pages, halftone illustrations. Stated third impression.
Features about 120 reproductions from Muybridge’s original series on human and animal locomotion. The first impression of this title appeared in 1899, while the photographer was still alive. The images are categorized into eleven sections: walk, amble, trot, rack, canter, gallop, ricochet, leap, buck and kick, change of gait, and the flight of birds, each with an introduction by Muybridge. Born Edward James Muggeridge in England, Muybridge (1830-1904) emigrated to the United States in 1852 and by a few years later had set up shop in San Francisco. He first made a name for himself producing large-scale photographs of Yosemite Valley in the 1860s. Leland Stanford, California’s ex-governor, hired Muybridge to photograph his horses in stride in order to prove that all four hooves were off the ground at the same time. He made a famously large panorama of San Francisco in 1878 and during the 1880s did extensive motion studies of both humans and animals at the University of Pennsylvania. The latter resulted in a mammoth portfolio of 781 plates, some of the images appearing in this title. Covers lightly worn, bumped, and spotted. $300
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard.
The Human Figure in Motion, New York: Dover, 1955. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 11 x 8 inches, unpaginated, 195 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. A large selection from Muybridge’s unequaled study of motion, performed at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1880s. It shows men, women, and children, usually undressed, in all states of activity against a gridded backdrop. Introduction by photography historian Prof. Robert Taft. Tiny edgewear, price-clipped dustjacket that is rubbed, wrinkled, and torn.
Animals in Motion, New York: Dover, 1957. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 11 x 8 inches, unpaginated, 183 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. This one features horses, cows, pigs, camels, dogs, cats, and such wild animals as lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!). Includes Muybridge’s text from the original 1887 edition. A few lightly bumped corners, in price-clipped dustjacket that is rubbed and wrinkled.
These are the first Dover editions (reprinted many times as softcovers), not particularly common, especially with dustjackets. The pair: $100
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. Kevin MacDonnell, Eadweard Muybridge, The Man Who Invented the Moving Picture, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1972. Hardcover (red and black-stamped white cloth), 10 ¾ x 9 ¾ inches, 160 pages, screen-gravure illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Despite the title, this book covers Muybridge’s whole career. Includes his work in Alaska, Yosemite Valley, Central America, Palo Alto (California), University of Pennsylvania, and his invention of the zoopraxiscope, an early means of viewing moving pictures. One corner bumped, in rubbed, torn, and price-clipped dustjacket. $35
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. Robert Bartlett Haas, Muybridge: Man in Motion, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. Hardcover (gold-stamped leatherette), 9 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 208 pages, 156 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Another biographical study of the man. According to the flap, “This volume is not a coffee-table book, but it contains ample illustrations to exemplify Muybridge’s skill as a photographer and demonstrate his experimental work. It is laid out without frills and without doing violence to Muybridge’s compositions.” Thank heavens. Fine condition, in dustjacket with minor rubbing. $35
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. One City/Two Vision: Eadweard Muybridge & Mark Klett: San Francisco Panoramas, 1878 and 1990, San Francisco: Bedford Arts, 1990. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 12 ¼ x 9 ¾ inches, unpaginated, 4 halftone illustrations. Stated first printing, box, signed by essayist.
Features quality reproductions of Muybridge’s spectacular 1878 panorama of San Francisco (see next entry), along with Mark Klett’s version of the same subject, made over a century later. The two images are presented back-to-back, accordion style. Accompanying text by Klett and professor Peter Bacon Hales, and short biographies of each photographer. This copy inscribed by Hales. Near fine condition, in original shipping box. $65
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. David Harris and Eric Sandweiss, Eadweard Muybridge and the Photographic Panorama of San Francisco, 1850-1880, Montréal: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 1993. Hardcover (silver-stamped maroon cloth), 10 x 12 inches, 136 pages, duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
This is one of the few examples of an entire book devoted to a single photograph—Muybridge’s rare mammoth-plate panorama, made in 1878. Comprised of thirteen albumen prints, the entire piece is sixteen inches tall and more than seventeen feet long, providing a full 360-degree view of the city. Muybridge set his tripod-supported camera at the top of California Street and used the laborious wet-collodion negative process, which would have required hours of work. The resulting panorama is one of the most unforgettable and singular objects in the history of photography. Harris writes about the technical and conceptual aspects regarding panoramas (in all media), as well as their social and promotional uses. Sandweiss explores the “rhetoric of destiny in the remarkable history of San Francisco.” A beautifully designed and printed book, with three fold-outs, including a seven-panel one of the main subject. This copy warmly inscribed by Harris. Fine condition. $250
- MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. Ephemera.
Eadweard Muybridge: A Traveling Exhibition, Rochester: George Eastman House,
- 1970. Brochure for traveling show of 35 framed photographs, rented for $175 a month.
Muybridge’s Complete Human and Animal Locomotion, New York: Dover, 1980. Brochure prospectus for Dover’s three-volume reprint of all 781 plates from Muybridge’s 1887 publication.
“Running Through His Mind,” New York Times Book Review, January 27, 2013. Review of book on Muybridge titled The Inventor and the Tycoon, on original newsprint.
Group of three: $10
- NADAR. Nigel Gosling, Nadar, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976. Hardcover (blind and gold-stamped black cloth), 12 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 298 pages, 359 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first American edition.
This was the first full-scale book on the great French portrait photographer. It constitutes a visual record of the central personalities of nineteenth-century French culture, such as Charles Baudelaire (a close friend), George Sand, Victor Hugo, Sarah Bernhard, and Honoré Daumier. Born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, Nadar (1820-1910) was preceded in photography by a brother and succeeded by a son, who ran the studio into the twentieth century. He made the world’s first aerial photograph in 1868, from a balloon over his native Paris. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is lightly wrinkled. $50
- NAEF, Weston J., and James N. Wood. Era of Exploration: The Rise of Landscape Photography in the American West, 1860-1885, Buffalo: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1975. Hardcover (gold and blind-stamped brown cloth), 9 ¼ x 12 inches, 260 pages, 313 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Signed.
This is the groundbreaking study of nineteenth-century American Western landscape photography. This golden age was facilitated by popular curiosity, government support, and the perfect photographic combination of the wet-collodion negative and albumen paper. The text explores the science, nature, and art of the breathtaking pictures. The five main photographers represented, each with a section of their own, are: William Henry Jackson, Eadweard Muybridge, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Andrew Joseph Russell, and Carleton E. Watkins. A fragile book and dustjacket, due to its elongated format. This copy signed by Naef. Near fine condition, in a dustjacket that is rubbed, lightly worn, and torn. $50
- NAYA, Carlo. Italo Zannier, Venice, the Naya Collection, Venice, Italy:
- Böhm, 1981. Hardcover (white-stamped black cloth), 9 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches, 152 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This was the first historical and critical study of the Naya archive, comprising about 8,000 negatives. It traces the photographer’s work in a lively milieu of photographers, publishers, and artists, serving as a history of both photography and Venice between 1850 and 1918. It includes a map of some 40 Venetian photography studios active during the time and examples of Naya’s plate signatures. Carlo Naya (1816-1882) was based in Venice’s Piazza San Marco and specialized in city scenes for tourists and copying works of art. He won awards at international expositions during the 1860s in Paris and London. Two corners lightly bumped, in dustjacket with wrinkles. $50
- NEGRE, Charles. André Jammes, Charles Nègre Photographe, 1820-1880, Paris: André Jammes, 1963. Softcover (printed paper with mounted repro-duction), 13 x 16 ½ inches, 42 pages, 31 collotype (?) illustrations, original acetate dustjacket.
This is an early monograph on a photographer, unusually large-scale, and elaborately produced. All of the high-quality reproductions are tipped in and one (of an architectural detail) is a fold-out that measures a whopping 28 x 13 inches. Other images show landscapes, monuments, and example of Nègre’s important series of Parisian street vendors, mostly from the 1850s and printed from paper negatives. After studying painting with Ingres and Delaroche, Charles Nègre (1820-1880) became a prominent French photographer during the middle of the nineteenth century. He studied and experimented with photogravure and was known for producing particularly large salt prints, measuring up to 20 x 30 inches. Written by one of the earliest collectors of photographs, with all text in French, in an edition of only 300 copies. Light foxing and minor wrinkles to covers. $1,000
- NEWHALL, Beaumont. Photography and the Book, Boston Public Library 1983. Softcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches, 54 pages, 24 halftone illustrations.
This is the transcript text for a lecture that famed photographic historian Newhall delivered at the library a few years earlier. Though it includes a few later books, the vast majority of the reproductions and text address nineteenth-century items. He features work by William Henry Fox Talbot, Maxime Du Camp, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, George N. Barnard, Andrew Joseph Russell, John Thomson, and Peter Henry Emerson. A nicely printed book by Meriden Gravure, in an edition of two-thousand copies. Near fine condition. $35
- NIR, Yeshayahu. The Bible and the Image: History of Photography in the Holy Land, 1839-1899, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985. Hardcover (black-stamped yellow cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 294 pages, 110 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Nir, the director of the Communications Institute at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, analyzes the cultural, social, economic, and political biases that influenced photography in the Holy Land. He also discusses the responses of local Muslims and Jews to photography and examines the relationship between Western photographers and the indigenous population. His text comprises two chronological sections: “The Land, Holy and Profane” and “Photography and Local Society.” Near fine condition. $50
- ONNE, Eyal. Photographic Heritage of the Holy Land, 1939-1914, England: Manchester Polytechnic, 1980. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches, 104 pages, 108 halftone illustrations.
Onne’s essay covers the prehistory, calotypists, popularization of Middle Eastern photographs, local studios and resident photographers, distinguished visitors, photographic surveys, and the American connection. The plate section is divided into topographical and traditional images, and there are nine glossaries, the most useful being an index of photographers and a chronology of photographers, photographic milestones, and events in the Holy Land. Light ceases to front cover. $35
- OSTROFF, Eugene. Western Views and Eastern Visions, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1980. Softcover, 11 x 10 ¾ inches, 120 pages, halftone illustrations. Signed ephemera.
This catalog accompanied a show circulated by the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibition service. Curator Ostroff’s essay addresses America’s Western expansion and its documentation during the wet-plate collodion era of the 1860s to 1880s. He discusses the photographic process and its challenges in the wild, government surveys, and the popularity of the pictures that the photographers brought back East. Among the usual suspects whose work is featured are Timothy O’Sullivan, William Bell, Eadweard Muybridge, and Carleton E. Watkins. Most instructive are comparisons of some of their photographs with prints, drawings, and other hand-rendered images. The glassine endpapers feature a negative image of a frontiersman overlooking a pass by William Henry Jackson. Laid into this copy is part of a letter, signed by Ostroff. Near fine condition. $35
- O’SULLIVAN, Timothy H. James D. Horan, Timothy O’Sullivan, America’s Forgotten Photography, New York: Bonanza, 1966. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth and red paper over boards), 11 x 8 ½ inches, 334 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This reprint of the Doubleday original, was the initial rediscovery book on O’Sullivan, one of America’s best nineteenth-century landscape photographers. This overview is heavily illustrated, with over 400 images. Timothy H. O’Sullivan (1840-1882) worked for Mathew Brady, first in his New York portrait studio and then on the Civil War battlefield. Subsequently, he participated in a number of government surveys of the American West, among them the King expedition of 1867-69, on which he made the earliest photographs of underground mine interiors, and the Wheeler expedition of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River. O’Sullivan was among the most visually sophisticated of the western photographers, producing stark, expressive images. He died of tuberculosis at age forty-two. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with a little edgewear and wrinkles. $25
- O’SULLIVAN, Timothy H. Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, T. H. O’Sullivan, Photographer, Rochester: George Eastman House, 1966. Softcover, 8 x 8 ½ inches, 56 pages, 40 screen-gravure illustrations.
This diminutive piece was produced in collaboration with Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum and may have been a catalog for a show seen at both museums. The Newhalls cover the basics of O’Sullivan’s life and work and Ansel Adams writes an appreciation. Features quality gravure-printed images of Native Americans, the Civil War, Shoshone Falls, Canyon de Chelly, and other subjects. Includes a chronology and sports a die-cut cover, mimicking the shape of an arch-topped stereo image. Light rubbing to cover. $25
- O’SULLIVAN, Timothy H. Joel Snyder, American Frontiers: The Photographs of Timothy H. O’Sullivan, 1867-1874, Millerton, New York: Aperture, 1981. Hardcover (silver-stamped green cloth), 9 ¼ x 11 ½ inches, 120 pages, duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
University of Chicago professor’s smart examination of O’Sullivan’s work, which was previously largely overlooked. His new research sheds light on both the photographer and his relationship to the theories of aesthetic and American culture of the nineteenth century. Features rich, full-page reproductions. Near fine condition. $75
- O’SULLIVAN, Timothy H. Rick Dingus, The Photographic Artifacts of Timothy O’Sullivan, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982. Hardcover (gold-stamped gray cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 158 pages, 146 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Professor and photographer Dingus became closely acquainted with O’Sullivan’s work when participating in the Rephotographic Survey Project, which visited sites that O’Sullivan and other Western landscape photographers had essayed. Dingus explores how O’Sullivan frequently ignored the kind of topographic accuracy that would have been more useful for documentary purposes, preferring visual coherence in his pictures. He relates the images to Romantic art in general and in particular to the meditative literature of Herman Melville and Henry David Thoreau. Near fine condition. $50
- PEREZ, Nissan N. Focus East: Early Photography in the Near East (1839-1885), New York: Harry N. Abrams, and Domino Press, Jerusalem, 1988. Hardcover (gold and blind-stamped brown cloth), 12 x 9 ¼ inches, 256 pages, 275 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a comprehensive study on Near Eastern photography in the nineteenth century by Israel Museum curator Perez. He devotes chapters to topics such as the historical background, invasion of the West of the Orient, Western attitudes of science and literature, Symbolism and the Levant, the relationship of painting and photography, and the differences between foreign, local, British, and French operators. Includes an expansive section of over 250 biographies of every photographer known to have worked in the region, whether missionary, tourist, scientist, or professional, from Abdullah Frères to the Zangaki Brothers. Near fine condition. $50
- Photo-American. Subscription renewal invoice, New York: Photo-American, 1893. Sheet, 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches.
This is a printed bill from the Photo-American, a monthly published 1889-1907 that touted itself here as “The Best and Cheapest Magazine of its class published.” It is dated June 3, 1893, and made out to J. C. Hegarty, a Pennsylvania subscriber, for a full year of the magazine’s issues at the reasonable cost of one dollar (yup, $1.00). A rare item that includes an elaborate design, name of the publisher (Dr. Charles H. Loeber), and some elegant penmanship. A few folds. $50
- Photographic Society: Exhibition of Photographs and Daguerreotypes, London: Photographic Society, 1860. Softcover, 9 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches, 24 pages, unillustrated.
This catalog documents the seventh annual exhibition of the organization that later became the Royal Photographic Society. It lists 586 photographs, made largely from collodion negatives, and, despite the title, not a single daguerreotype. Among the exhibitors were Francis Bedford, Samuel Bourne, Roger Fenton, Henry Peach Robinson, and “A Lady” who contributed six pictures. Helmut Gernsheim lists the 1858 catalog in his book Incunabula of British Photographic Literature, 1839-1875. Extremely rare, early English ephemera. Covers folded and soiled, stain throughout at one corner. $500
- Pioneers of Landscape Photography: Gustave Le Gray/Carleton Watkins, Malibu, California: J. Paul Getty Museum, and Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt, Germany, 1993. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 8 ¾ x 10 ¾ inches, 128 pages, halftone illustrations. Signed by one author.
This handsome book, examines these two kingpins of late nineteenth-century landscape photography. Getty curator Weston J. Naef, Margaret Stuffmann, and Martin Christadler provide essays, and Martin Sonnabend the biographies. Among their topics are photographic panoramas, the aesthetic of perception, the Barbizon school of painting, and American geology and commerce, all as they relate to the work of Le Gray and Watkins, drawn from the Getty’s impressive collection. Bilingual text in German and English. This copy signed by Naef. Near fine condition. $85
- PLANTUREUX, Serge. Niépce, Daguerre or Talbot?: The Quest of Joseph Hamel to Find the Real Inventor of Photography, Venti, Italy: Accademia dei Venti, 2004. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 5 ¾ x 5 ¼ inches, 48 pages, 21 halftone illustrations.
This is apparently the true story of the quest of a Russian spy to figure out who was the first person to actually make photographic images, utilizing a collection of fragile documents in St. Petersburg. Near fine condition. $25
- REGNAULT, Victor. Laurie Dahlberg, Victor Regnault and the Advance of Photography: The Art of Avoiding Errors, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005. Hardcover (gold-stamped brown cloth), 10 x 11 ¼ inches, 208 pages, 100 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is the most compete account to date of the French photographer and scientist. It examines his life and landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. Regnault (1810-1878) was a towering figure during the earliest decades of photography, making hundreds of calotype prints from paper negatives. He was the first leader of the Société Française de Photographie and also became director of the Sèvres porcelain works. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny edgewear and wrinkles. $65
- REILLY, James M. The Albumen & Salted Paper Book: The History and Practice of Photographic Printing, 1840-1895, Rochester: Light Impressions, 1980. Softcover, 9 x 6 inches, 132 pages, 47 line illustrations. Stated first printing, with ephemera.
This was the first comprehensive contemporary guide to the technical, historical, and archival aspects of the two printing materials that dominated the nineteenth century. It contains a detailed history of the processes and complete working directions for those wishing to make their own salt and albumen prints today, as well as practical information on the identification, storage, and care of vintage prints. Reilly was an authority on the subject, serving on the faculty of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Laid into this copy is a promotional sheet on this and two other books. Tiny edgewear. $25
- REJLANDER, Oscar G. Charles Darwin, The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals, New York: D. Appleton, 1888. Hardcover (black and gold-stamped brown cloth), 8 x 5 inches, 376 pages, 7 collotype (heliotype) illustrations.
Written by the English scientist who developed the theory of evolution, this book was first published in London about fifteen years earlier. Rejlander’s plates, each of which has multiple images ganged together, show babies crying, examples of grief, joy, sneering, defiance, fear, and shrugging of the shoulders. The photographer, recognizable by his bald head and white mutton chops, posed for some of the pictures himself. Oscar Gustav Rejlander (1813-1875) was born in Sweden and learned photography in 1853 in England, where he spent the rest of his life. He became one of the first high-art photographers during the Victorian era, known for his annual composite pictures. The most famous of these was “The Two Ways of Life” (1857), a sentimental allegory showing a man choosing between a future of good or evil. Covers worn, previous owners’ names, signatures loose. $75
- REJLANDER, Oscar G. Edgar Yoxall Jones, Father of Art Photography:
- G. Rejlander, 1813-1875, Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 1973. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue paper over boards), 9 ¾ x 7 ½ inches, 112 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This biographical monograph appropriately opens with a frontispiece of Rejlander’s notorious 1857 image, “The Two Ways of Life,” shown in two versions and analyzed in great detail. Jones goes on to discuss the photographer’s other, less-known work—tableaux, genre, allegories, and “studies of the ideal.” Among them are illustrations for the above book. Near fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket with minor edgewear and creases. $35
- RINHART, Floyd and Marion. American Daguerreian Art, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1967. Hardcover (gold-stamped blue cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 140 pages, 90 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
The Rinhart’s early examination of the daguerreian era of 1840 to 1860 in this country. They cover portraiture, outdoor scenes, color imagery, and cases, and provide biographical notes for about one hundred daguerreotypists. Laid into this copy is the original errata slip and a copy of a remembrance of Floyd from a 1997 issue of the Daguerreian Society Newsletter. Fine condition, in dustjacket with miniscule edgewear. $35
- RINHART, Floyd and Marion. The American Daguerreotype, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1981. Hardcover (silver-stamped blue cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¼ inches, 446 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
This book expands greatly on the above title, with much more information and many additional reproductions. Covering the same twenty years, there are chapters on four short chronological periods. Recognized authorities on the subject, the couple addresses technique and equipment, stereo dags, color, photography’s impact on American life and art, portraiture, and miniature cases. Includes work by Mathew Brady, Levi Hill, Southworth & Hawes, and many more. Topping off the book is a biographical listing of some 2,000 daguerreotypists (amateur and professional), manufacturers, suppliers, and case makers. Still a major reference. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny edgewear and rubbing. $125
- Rome in Early Photographs: The Age of Pius IX, Copenhagen, Denmark: Thorvaldsen Museum, 1977. Hardcover (brown-printed white paper over boards), 10 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 484 pages, 210 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a thoughtful, substantial study of photographs of Rome’s architecture, ruins, people, and daily life, between 1846 and 1878. Every plate is accompanied by text about the subject’s history and meaning. Biographies of over sixty-five photographers are provided, most of them unknown to even photographic historians. Among the recognizable names are Fratelli Alinari, Gioacchino Altobelli, Tommaso Cuccioni, Pompeo Molins, and Carlo Ponti. The essays address political and social conditions in Rome, the townscape of Rome, and the photographers’ activities. Features an 18-x-24-inch fold out map of Rome in 1847. Fine condition. $250
- RUDISILL, Richard. Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971. Hardcover (printed white cloth), 11 ¼ x 8 ¾ inches, 342 pages, 202 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, signed, with ephemera.
According to the flap, Dr. Rudisill “skillfully weaves his interpretation of the social and intellectual effects of the daguerreotype. He sees its significance on three levels: as a direct force toward cultural nationalism and an emerging definition of the American character; as an aid in the young republic’s transition from an agrarian to a machine society; and as an instrument of the Transcendentalist spirit.” Includes an annotated bibliography. This copy inscribed and dated 1980 by Rudisill, along with his business card laid in. Near fine condition. $250
- RUSSELL, Andrew J. Russell’s Civil War Photographs: 116 Historic Prints by Andrew J. Russell, New York: Dover, 1982. Softcover, 12 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, 128 pages, 116 halftone illustrations.
Includes reproductions of all the photographs contained in the unique album “United States Military Railroad Photographic Album,” in the private collection of Joe Buberger and Matthew Isenberg, who jointly contribute an introduction. It features scenes from the Civil War, like arsenals, encampments, and the burying of the dead; buildings in Washington D.C., such as the Smithsonian Institution and Capitol (completed in 1865); and railroads, bridges, and other pictures. Andrew Joseph Russell (1830-1902) was among the few professional photographers who braved the harsh conditions of the Civil War to record it with the difficult wet-collodion negative process. He worked for the Construction Corps of the United States Army Military Railroad during the war, the Union Pacific Railroad from 1868 to 1870, and in 1869 for the United States Geographical Survey. He photographed the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah, which completed America’s transcontinental railroad, and later ran a studio in New York, supplying images for popular magazines. Covers lightly rubbed and bent. $25
- RUSSELL, Andrew J. Thomas Weston Fels, Destruction and Destiny: The Photographs of A. J. Russell: Directing American Energy in War and Peace, 1862-1869, Pittsfield, Massachusetts: Berkshire Museum, 1987. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 12 inches, 32 pages, 12 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. With signed ephemera.
A handsome exhibition catalog (elegantly designed and well printed), of Russell’s work from the Civil War and the American western expansion, the country’s two greatest nineteenth-century challenges. Includes images of a gunboat, pontoon bridge, railroad trestle bridge, Echo Canyon, and others. Laid in is a small sheet with Fels’ name and address written by him (thus a signature). Near fine condition. $35
- RYDER, James F. Voigtländer and I: In Pursuit of Shadow Catching, Cleveland, Ohio: Imperial Press and Cleveland Printing & Publishing Co., 1902. Hardcover (black-stamped tan cloth), 9 ½ x 6 ½ inches, 264 pages, halftone illustrations. With ephemera.
This is the autobiography of photographer Ryder, “A Story of Fifty-two Years’ Companionship with a Camera” (the book’s subtitle). The book consists largely of anecdotes; Voigtländer was an Austrian-made camera. Photographers whose work is reproduced include Louis Fleckenstein, J. C. Strauss, and F. Dondas Todd. James F. Ryder (1826-1904) learned the daguerreotype process, worked as an itinerant photographer and established his own studio in Cleveland in 1856. He claimed to have introduced negative retouching to this county and by 1870 was Ohio’s leading professional photographer. He helped found the Photographers’ Association of America and served as its president many times. He retired in 1894 and died two years after this book appeared. Laid into this copy are both a bookmark and a folded sheet promoting the book. A little wear and creases to spine, and a few spots on the front cover. $125
- Salt and Paper: Photography in Egypt from the 1850s, Munich, Germany: Galerie Daniel Blau, 2001. Softcover, 6 ½ x 9 ½ inches, 32 pages, 24 halftone illustrations.
A selection of vintage salt and albumen prints, presented by the Blau Gallery at Brooke Alexander Editions in New York. Comprises work by only Maxime Du Camp and Francis Frith, with biographies and full-page reproductions. Printed in an edition of 500 copies. Fold to one corner, affecting cover and first few pages. $25
- SARONY. J. M. Barrie, The Little Minister, New York: H. M. Caldwell, 1898. Hardcover (gold-stamped gray cloth), 9 x 6 inches, 454 pages, halftone illustrations.
This is a novel by the author of Peter Pan. The famous New York portrait photographer Sarony made portraits and pictures on the set of “The Little Minister,” when it was later produced as a play. Among the subjects are Maude Adams, who had the female lead and whose portrait is the tissue-guarded frontispiece. Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896) was born in Quebec, Canada, and moved to New York in about 1836. He worked as an illustrator for Currier and Ives, partnered with other photographers, and then set up his own studio in 1857. He is best known for his theater portraits from the late nineteenth century, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde being among his most famous subjects. Front hinge a little loose and a few smudges to otherwise clean thick cloth covers. $25
- SCHARF, Aaron. Pioneers of Photography, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1976. Hardcover (gold-stamped green cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 inches, 190 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
After a general introduction, Scharf presents discrete chapters primarily on major individuals from the first half century of photography. They are William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Samuel Bourne, Nadar, and Eadweard Muybridge, but there are also sections on the daguerreotype, calotype, and autochrome. Near fine condition. $25
- SEBAH, J. Pascal. Engin Ozendes, From Sébah & Joaillier to Foto Sabah: Orientalism in Photography, Istanbul, Turkey: Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, 1999. Hardcover (black-stamped orange cloth), 11 x 8 ½ inches, 274 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a heavily illustrated book (apparently the only one on the subject) covering one of the prominent Middle Eastern photographic firms from the nineteenth century. Among its sections of plates are: costume, schools, smoke and coffee houses, houses, streets, fire brigades, Mevlevi dervishes, cemeteries, and boats. Features twenty full-size, color reproductions of the studio’s printed materials, showing their changing logo and address. In 1857, J. Pascal Sébah (1823-1886) established his first large commercial studio in a fashionable section of Constantinople (now Istanbul). Fifteen years later he branched out to Cairo, Egypt, where his pictures were recommended by Baedeker guidebooks. By 1888, Sebah’s brother and son were running the Turkish studio, which then partnered with the French photographer Policarape Joailler. Later renamed Foto Sabah (the Turkish word for “morning”), the business closed its doors in 1952, after nearly a century of fame. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny edgewear. $150
- SHIMSHAK, Robert Harshorn, and Robert Flynn Johnson. The Power of Light: Daguerreotypes from the Robert Harshorn Shimshak Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986. Softcover, 9 x 6 inches, 48 pages, 29 duotone illustrations.
Attractive little catalog for exhibition drawn from a major daguerreotype collection. Includes occupational portraits, a female nude, and outdoor scenes of a grave, greenhouse, mining camp, and buildings in Cincinnati and Cleveland. Among the photographers represented are Mathew B. Brady, Jeremiah Gurney, Marcus A. Root, and Southworth & Hawes. Printed in an edition of 1,350 copies, this one is numbered 433. Tiny edgewear. $25
- SILVY, Camille. Mark Haworth-Booth, Camille Silvy: “River Scene, France,” Malibu, California: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992. Softcover, 9 ¼ x 7 ½ inches, 120 pages, 3 color halftone and 47 duotone illustrations.
This book is centered on a single photograph by Silvy, a quiet 1858 river scene for which he is most remembered. It was of international importance: it was made in France, first exhibited in Scotland, and first sold to an English collector. Haworth-Booth covers the photographer’s life and the influence and variations of the image, in this model of photographic scholarship. Camille Silvy (1834-1910) established himself as a landscape and portrait photographer in Paris, and moved to London in 1859, where he became known for his cartes-de-visit of the Royal Family and other famous figures. In 1868 he returned to France and apparently never photographed again, being consumed by mental and physical illnesses. Near fine condition. $35
- SINGH, Sawai Ram. The Photographer Prince Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, Jaipur, India: Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II Museum, 1985. Softcover, 9 ½ x
7 ¼ inches, 8 pages, 7 halftone illustrations. With ephemera.
Catalog for exhibition of Prince Singh’s photographs and equipment and work by others he collected, such as Samuel Bourne. Text by the museum’s director and curator, and images of Singh’s monogram, first page of his diary, and portraits by him of a Sanana Lady and a Rajput Noble. Singh (1835-1880) was one of the few Indians who took serious interest in photography upon its introduction to the country in the 1840s. He bought his first camera in 1864 and may have learned the process from R. Murray. In addition to fellow royalty and friends, he turned his camera on the streets of Jaipur and monuments such as the Jama Masjid in Delhi. Laid in is a 1985 article on the show from the magazine India Today. This is an unusual small piece, preceding the larger 1996 book on Singh. Covers and pages bent and edgeworn. $25
- SNELLING, Henry H. The History and Practice of the Art of Photography, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1970. Hardcover (blind and gold-stamped green cloth), 7 ½ x 4 ¾ inches, 144 pages, 29 line illustrations.
Originally published in 1849, this is a reprint with an introduction by Beaumont Newhall. The full subtitle of the original was “The Production of Pictures Through the Agency of Light, Containing all the instructions necessary for the complete practice of the daguerreian and photogenic art, both on metallic plates and on paper.” Henry H. Snelling (1817-1897) was first initiated to photography in 1847 when he started working for Edward Anthony, a daguerreotype pioneer, for whom he designed equipment. In 1851 he began to edit and publish the monthly Photographic Art Journal and he wrote two books beside the current title, which went through at least four editions during his lifetime. Tiny edgewear. $25
- SNYDER, Joel. One/Many: Western American Survey Photographs by Bell and O’Sullivan, University of Chicago, Smart Museum of Art, 2006. Softcover, 8 x 11 inches, 124 pages, 66 duotone illustrations.
Intelligent exhibition catalog, utilizing the work of William Bell and Timothy H. O’Sullivan, two of the leading photographers who worked for the U.S. Government geological and geographical expeditions during the 1860s and 1870s. Art history professor Snyder writes about the surveys, panoramic and view photographs, and the materials the two photographers used: wet-collodion negatives and albumen paper. Josh Ellenbogen provides the essay “Inhuman Sight: Photographs and Panoramas in the Nineteenth Century.” Features a four-page foldout panorama by Bell of the Grand Canyon in 1872. Near fine condition. $35
- SOMMER, Giorgio (attribution). Pompeii, New York: John Ireland,
- 1890. Hardcover (gold-stamped red cloth), 7 ½ x 5 inches, 48 pages, 10 photogravure illustrations.
This handbook was probably intended for school or armchair-travel use. It describes the history and daily life of the Italian city, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the current ruins. The images, consistent with Sommer’s work, show streets, courtyards, theaters, and other sites. Giorgio Sommer (1834 -1914) was a leading photographer for the Italian tourist trade and was most known for his images of Naples and Pompeii. Ex-library copy, with worn covers, call number on the spine, and many internal markings. $25
- SOMMER, Giorgio. Adam D. Weinberg, The Photographs of Giorgio Sommer, Rochester, New York: Visual Studies Workshop, 1981. Softcover, 8 ¾ x 6 inches, 56 pages, 26 halftone illustrations, with ephemera. Signed by Weinberg.
This, the first monograph on the nineteenth-century Italian photographer, was Weinberg’s master’s thesis at the Visual Studies Workshop. Weinberg, who is now the director of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, examines Sommer’s German heritage, his studio’s style, his casting business, and his costume and documentary photographs. He also includes a chronology and an index of Sommer’s work in public collections. Laid in is a sheet listing twenty extra catalog entries and a card indicating this was a complimentary copy from the author. Additionally, this copy signed by Weinberg. Fine condition. $15
- SOUTHWORTH & HAWES. I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Hawes-Stokes Collection of American Daguerreotypes by Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1939. Softcover, 8 ½ x 5 ½ inches, 48 pages, 24 halftone illustrations.
This catalog accompanied an exhibition at the Met, drawn from its own collection and in commemoration of the centenary of photography. The sixty-one daguerreotypes were given to the museum by author Stokes and descendants of photographer Hawes. Stokes writes about the discovery and early development of photography in general and the work of Southworth & Hawes in particular. The reproductions include views of Boston and San Francisco and portraits of John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Only 500 copies printed. Southworth & Hawes were internationally prominent daguerreian photographers beginning in the early 1840s. Based in Boston, the partners produced a great range of portraits and views, widely celebrated for their technical brilliance and aesthetic superiority, and operated until only 1862. Small folds to two corners, tiny stain, and short tears to cover spine and first two pages. $125
- SOUTHWORTH & HAWES. Robert A. Sobieszek and Odette M. Appel, The Spirit of Fact: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes, 1843-1862, Boston: David R. Godine and Eastman House, Rochester, 1976. Hardcover (gold-stamped orange cloth), 10 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches, 164 pages, 127 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
This book was long the standard reference on the important Boston team of daguerreotypists. Curator Sobieszek and Appel cover numerous topics in their essay; the early years of daguerreotype portraiture, the early life of Southworth, Southworth and printmaker Joseph Pennell, the formation of the partnership, their grand parlor stereoscope, supplies from the studio, the making and aesthetics of portraiture, and the achievements of Southworth and Hawes. A large-format book, with many full-page quality plates. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with tiny rubbing and wrinkling. $75
- STEREOCARDS. Hanging Out: Stereographic Prints from the Collection of Samuel Wagstaff, Jr. at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Providence: List Art Center, Brown University, 1984. Softcover (plastic-spiral binding), 6 x 9 inches, 60 pages, 48 halftone illustrations.
Exhibition catalog for items from one of the great late twentieth-century collectors. Wagstaff himself provides an introduction and professor Michael L. Carlebach writes on “Stereography: An American View.” Photographers represented include F. Jay Haynes, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, George Barker, and Charles Bierstadt. The reproductions, one to a page, are rendered in real scale. Near fine condition, except for tiny folds to three corners. $35
- STEVENSON, Helen E. Kate Raworth Holmes, Pictures from Nature and Life, Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1893. Hardcover (gold, brown, and orange-stamped brown cloth), 10 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 210 pages, halftone illustrations.
A good Victorian period piece of ten long poems by Holmes, with illustrations (both hand-drawn and photographic) by Stevenson. The pictures are mostly of children, women, flowers, and landscapes. One of the verses is titled “The Photograph,” which begins, “Sweet friend how often thou has begged a photograph of me. To please thee dear, I sat for this, and send it now to thee. I had not thought how many years had come and passed away. Until I looked upon the face I send to thee today.” Sports an intricate tri-color cover design of a tree with fruit/leaves. A fragile item with edgewear and some pages loose but all present. $75
- STODDARD, Seneca Ray. Maitland C. De Sormo, Seneca Ray Stoddard: Versatile Camera-Artist, Saranac Lane, New York: Adirondack Yesterdays, 1972. Hardcover (gold-stamped rust cloth), 10 ½ x 7 ¾ inches, 192 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
The first monograph on the photographer, providing a biography and analysis of his pictures. While Stoddard traveled to Europe and the American West, he was most accomplished photographing New York’s Adirondack Mountains, which he helped popularize. Working in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, he turned his camera on the region’s tourists, lodges, lakes, and landscape. Seneca Ray Stoddard (1844-1917) was also a writer, cartographer, and outdoorsman. Miniscule wear to cloth tips and edges of dustjacket. $35
- STORY, Alfred A. The Story of Photography, New York: D. Appleton, 1904. Hardcover (leather spine and tips and marbled paper over boards), 7 ¾ x 5 inches, 172 pages, 1 halftone and 38 line illustrations.
Cleverly titled to reference the author’s name, this book is a history and technical guide to nineteenth-century photography. Story covers inventors Niépce, Daguerre, and Talbot, equipment, processes, and photography’s relationship to the telegraph and art. He ends his text by quoting art photographer Henry Peach Robinson: “The unthinking goose-quill of the poet was no more, in itself able to write than the unthinking camera of the photographer is to make pictures; but both are mighty instruments in the hands of mighty men.” Hinges loose, covers worn, missing spine and heavily tape-repaired. $35
- STRASSER, Alex. Victorian Photography, London and New York: Focal Press, 1942. Hardcover (black-stamped blue cloth), 9 ½ x 7 inches, 120 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first printing.
From the Focal Press’ series of books on photography, this one is subtitled: “Being an Album of Yesterday’s Camera-Work by William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill, Julia Margaret Cameron, Roger Fenton, Frank M Sutcliff, and Others.” It features a two-page, comparative timeline (1837-1901) of negative techniques, printing processes, and first applications, elaborated upon in the text. Includes capsule biographies of twenty-five British photographers. The images show architecture, landscapes, cities, and people (such as the Queen by Bryne and Company). Alexander Strasser was a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and author of other books on photography and film. Tiny edgewear, in dustjacket that is torn and missing a few small pieces. $50
- SULLIVAN, Constance. Landscapes of the Civil War: Newly Discovered Photographs from the Medford Historical Society, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. Hardcover (silver-stamped maroon cloth and paper over boards), 8 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches, 146 pages, 97 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
A fine selection of photographs from a cache of more than five thousand that were rediscovered in the attic of one of the nation’s most important Civil War archives. Includes images by primarily Andrew J. Russell, George N. Barnard, and Mathew B. Brady, and a gatefold panorama by an unidentified photographer of stables at Giesboro Point, Washington, D.C., under snow. Features text by professor Mark E. Neely, Jr., curator William F. Stapp, and historian Brian C. Pohanka. Near fine condition. $75
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. Image, June 1959 (vol. 8, no. 2). Softcover, 10 x 7 inches, 56 pages, halftone illustrations.
Nearly the entire issue of this George Eastman House periodical is devoted to Talbot and The Pencil of Nature. Includes Talbot’s introduction and notes to all twenty-four plates from the original publication and an essay by museum director Beaumont Newhall. In 1839, Talbot (1800-1877) revealed his negative/positive process of image making, which would remain the basis of most photography for the next 150 years. He initially experimented with light sensitive materials after being frustrated with his inability to draw. After developing the calotype (or talbotype), he used it extensively during the 1840s, establishing a business to print photographs in quantity and illustrating books with original prints. He issued his milestone book, The Pencil of Nature, between 1844 and 1846, in six installments of twenty-four images, picturing such prosaic subjects as a ladder, a broom, and glassware. Near fine condition. $25
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. William Henry Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature, New York: Da Capo Press, 1969. Hardcover (gold-stamped maroon cloth), 12 ½ x 10 ¼ inches, unpaginated, 24 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This oversize facsimile includes a new introduction by Eastman House director Beaumont Newhall. Reproduces all twenty-four of the original plates, tipped onto heavy pages with glassine slip sheets, and the full text. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is lightly rubbed and indented. $350
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. André Jammes, William H. Fox Talbot: Inventor of the Negative-Positive Process, New York: Macmillan, 1973. Hardcover (brown-stamped cream cloth), 11 x 9 inches, 96 pages, 69 screen-gravure illustrations, dustjacket.
Jammes was the great European bookseller and collector of nineteenth-century photographs. Most of the book’s images are from prints in his collection and appear in high quality gravure. Near fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket. $35
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. H. J. P. Arnold, William Henry Fox Talbot: Pioneer of Photography and Man of Science, London: Hutchinson Benham, 1977. Hardcover (gold-stamped cream cloth), 10 x 7 ½ inches, 384 pages, 107 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket.
This was the first full-length biography of Talbot, coming in at nearly four hundred pages. Based largely on original resources, it is a substantial scholarly and imaginative work, with over half a dozen portraits of Talbot and many full-color images. Near fine condition. $75
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. Gail Buckland, Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography, Boston: David R. Godine, 1980. Hardcover (gold and blind-stamped black cloth), 11 x 10 ¼ inches, 216 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, signed.
Gail Buckland, former curator at the Royal Photographic Society, provides a thorough account of the beginnings of photography in England. She covers Talbot’s finding of the latent image, his earliest fixed images, the events of the “discovery” year 1839, and The Pencil of Nature, the first book illustrated with original photographs. This copy signed by author Buckland on the title page. Fine condition, in price-clipped dustjacket. $75
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. Mike Weaver, Henry Fox Talbot: Selected Texts and Bibliography, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1993. Hardcover (gold-stamped paper), 10 x 7 ¾ inches, 190 pages, 47 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Includes an introduction by Weaver, six articles by Talbot, and additional texts. Reproduces all twenty four plates in The Pencil of Nature, with analysis. The bibliography runs to over 600 entries. Near fine condition in dustjacket that is lightly rubbed with tiny edgewear. $50
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. First Photographs: William Henry Fox Talbot and the Birth of Photography, New York: Powerhouse Books, 2002. Hardcover,
11 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, 200 pages, 120 four-color halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
Features never-before-published images and selections from Talbot’s research notebooks. Michael Gray (Fox Talbot Museum director) provides a comprehensive biography, Arthur Ollman (Museum of Photographic Arts director) analyzes Talbot’s aesthetic and social significance, and Carol McCusker (Museum of Photographic Arts curator) discusses the Romantic Movement and women in Talbot’s life. Mint condition, in shrink wrap. $50
- TALBOT, William Henry Fox. The Pencil of Nature. Prospectuses for two facsimile editions, signed by publishers.
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., New York, 1989. Folder, six panels, 11 ¾ x 9 ¼ inches, one halftone illustration. This one celebrated the 150th anniversary of photography. Features a reproduction of “The Open Door,” tipped in, and with order form and letter laid in, the latter signed by Kraus. Published in an edition of 250 numbered copies, at $800. Fine condition.
Monmouth Calotype, Bath, England, 2003. Folder, five loose pages, 11 ¾ x 5 ½ inches, 8 halftone illustrations. This reprint features 24 gold-toned, tipped-in salt paper prints with letterpress text. Published in an edition of 50 copies at $7,250. Laid in is a letter from Michael Gray, the publisher and director of the Fox Talbot Museum, signed by him. Fine condition.
The pair: $25
- TEYNARD, Félix. Félix Teynard “Egypte et Nubie, 1853-54:” The Photographer’s Personal Copy, London: Christie’s, 1994. Softcover, 10 ½ x 8 ¼ inches, 28 pages, 12 halftone illustrations.
The is the auction catalog for the sale of Teynard’s only known production, a two-volume set on the monuments of Egypt and Nubia, containing 160 calotype photographs (salted paper prints). It was extra illustrated with a portrait of him and included a hand-written inscription. Félix Teynard (1817-1892) was a French civil engineer who was among the first to photograph extensively in the inhospitable region of the Near East. He is “widely acknowledged as having produced the most aesthetically advanced work of the period.” Near fine condition. $15
- THANET, Octave. An Adventure in Photography, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1893. Hardcover (gold, white, and brown-stamped green cloth), 7 ½ x 5 ¼ inches, 180 pages, 34 halftone illustrations.
The author’s “adventure” is a straightforward account of her involvement with photography; composition, the studio, exposure, development, printing, tricks, and subjects such as interiors and portraiture. The frontispiece, with tissue guard, pictures a young boy with long hair perched in a tree. Octave Thanet was the pen name for Alice French (1850-1934), who resided in the Midwest and whose other books were primarily collections of short stories. Front free endpaper missing, half-title page detached, previous owner’s bookplate, in worn cover. $50
- TRIPE, Linnaeus. Janet Dewan and Maia-Mari Sutnik, Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of British India, 1854-1870, Toronto, Canada: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1986. Softcover, 11 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 40 pages, 73 halftone illustrations
The authors’ essays cover the rediscovery of Tripe’s work and his life photographing in India during the middle of the twentieth century, when it was under British rule. It reproduces landscapes by him, but largely images of India’s ancient ruins, such as the Great Pagoda of Madura. Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902) served in the British military most of his life as a photographer. In the late 1850s he was the official photographer of the India Mission to Burma and the Madras Presidency. In 1873, he returned to England, never to see India again. Tiny folds and edgewear. $25
- VACZEK, Louis, and Gail Buckland. Travelers in Ancient Lands: A Portrait of the Middle East, 1839-1919, Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1981. Hardcover (gold-stamped black cloth), 10 ¾ x 9 inches, 202 pages, 265 halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Writing from firsthand experience, Vaczek outlines the history of Islam and the Ottoman Empire and evokes life in the desert, villages, cities, and among foreign visitors. Buckland adds valuable insights to the role and practice of photography in the Middle East. Includes biographies of nearly 75 photographers active in the region, including Hippolyte Arnoux, Antonio Beato, George Eastman, J. B. Greene, G. Lekegian, and Zangaki. Near fine condition. $50
- VALENTINE & Sons. Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, London: Adam & Charles Black, 1904. Hardcover (green, white and silver-stamped blue cloth), 8 x 5 ¾ inches, 160 pages, 42 halftone illustrations.
Scott’s influential nineteenth-century poem, set in Scotland over six days. This story appeared in many illustrated editions, including at least two with original albumen prints by George Washington Wilson (see first section in this catalog). Valentine provided appropriate landscape scenes, such as Loch Katrine, Bracklinn Falls, Holyrood Palace, and Stirling Palace. Includes a few color illustrations after hand-rendered images, work by a few other photographers, and a fold-out map. Based in Dundee, James Valentine (1815-1879) became one of Scotland’s largest producers of topographical photographs, beginning in the 1860s. William and other sons continued the business, which eventually concentrated on producing picture postcards. Previous owner’s inscription, with a little wear to spine and covers, which features an intricate floral pattern. $35
- VALENTINE & Sons. Photographic View Album of Liverpool and New Brighton, Dundee, Scotland: Valentine & Sons, c. 1905. Softcover (cord ties),
11 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 24 pages, 68 halftone illustrations.
Completely devoid of text, except for the title page and captions, this is a typical picture album, aimed at the tourist trade. Most of the images are of the port of Liverpool (no Beatles in sight), showing such prominent buildings as St. George’s Hall, Town Hall, and Midland Adelphi Hotel. Among the ocean liners shown are the Mauretania. Just up the River Mercey from Liverpool was the vacation spot of New Brighton, shown here with its promenade, beaches, parks, and amusements. Pages and covers with light folds. $25
- VALENTINE & Sons. Photographic View Album of Edinburgh, Dundee, Scotland: Valentine & Sons, c. 1895. Hardcover (cloth spine with gold-stamped printed paper over boards), 7 x 9 inches, 24 pages, 20 collotype illustrations.
A view book of Scotland’s capital, built around seven hills. Valentine’s straight-forward images show some of the city’s main points of interest at the time: Edinburgh Castle, National Gallery, St. Giles Cathedral, Scott Monument, Forth Bridge, and Linlithgow Palace. Presented one per page, the reproductions are printed by the high-quality collotype process. Cord tie binding a little loose, foxing to pastedowns and endpapers, and minor edgewear to covers. $25
- VAN HAAFTEN, Julia. From Talbot to Stieglitz: Masterpieces of Early Photography from the New York Public Library, New York: Thames & Hudson, 1982. Hardcover (blind and gold-stamped white cloth), 11 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 126 pages, 96 duotone illustrations, dustjacket.
Librarian Van Haaften choose a mere one hundred photographs from the library’s vast trove of two million. Her essay discusses them by category: regional, documentary, exploratory, natural history, portrait, genre, and ethnographic. Among those featured who were working between Talbot in the 1840s and Stieglitz around the turn of the twentieth century, are Mathew B. Bray, Etienne Carjat, Francis Frith, Alexander Gardner, and William Langenheim. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with a few wrinkles. $35
- VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY. “Victoriana,” Camera, December 1968.
Nearly the entire issue of the Swiss magazine is devoted to the subject, with quality reproductions in screen-gravure. Sections on the photographers Talbot, Lewis Carroll, and Hill & Adamson, and on the periodical Sun Artists, with work by Cameron, Lydell Sawyer, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, and J. B. B. Wellington. Helmut Gernsheim contributes the essay “Victorian Photography,” and Marueen Artin-Turner “Victorian England.” Light wear to cover. $25
- VROMAN, Adam Clark. Photographer of the Southwest: Adam Clark Vroman, 1856-1916, Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1961. Hardcover (printed cloth), 11 ¾ x 9 ¼ inches, 128 pages, halftone illustrations, printed mylar dustjacket. Stated first printing.
This was the first book-length study of Vroman. Eastman House director Beaumont Newhall provides an overview of his life, Ruth I. Mahood writes on discovering Vroman’s lost negatives, William Webb describes his printing of them, and Vroman himself is represented by a reprinted text on Katzimo, an enchanted Mesa in New Mexico. Adam Clark Vroman (1856-1916) was an amateur photographer and archeologist, devoted to documenting the landscape and Native Americans of the Southwest. Working in Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California, he excelled at picturing the Hopi and Zuni tribes beginning in the 1890s. During the same time, Vroman opened a bookstore in Pasadena that remains today one of the country’s oldest and largest independent shops. Near fine condition, in dustjacket that is chipped, rubbed, and with one tear. $50
- WARREN, G. K. A Memorial of Charles Sumner of Boston, Boston City Council, 1874. Hardcover (gold-stamped purple cloth), 10 ¾ x 7 inches, 162 pages, one heliotype (collotype).
This book memorializes Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874), who was an outspoken opponent of slavery. It contains proceedings of the Boston City Council honoring him, an account of his funeral, and his eulogy by Carl Schurz. The frontispiece portrait shows the dignified senator seated and looking off camera, and reproduces his signature, both in high-quality collotype. George Kendall Warren (1834-1884) became a daguerreotypist in 1851 and later ran portrait studios in Boston from the 1860s to shortly before his death at fifty. Two corners bumped, covers worn and sunned. $75
- WATKINS, Carleton E. J. W. Johnson, The Early Pacific Coast Photographs of Carleton E. Watkins, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico, 1976. Softcover, 11 x
8 ½ inches, 64 pages, 8 halftone illustrations.
This is a reprint of professor Johnson’s paper, which was originally published in 1960 by the University of California’s Water Resources Center (Berkeley), making it the earliest rediscovery of the photographer. It includes short essays on Watkins’ biography, his working methods, and his scenic views. However, it is largely comprised of an inventory of his photographs at eleven institutions, among them the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Eastman House, and six California collections. Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916) was, in the estimation of gallery owner Jeffrey Fraenkel and me, the most visually acute nineteenth-century photographer of the American West. He ventured from the East Coast to San Francisco during the Gold Rush and began photographing around 1855. Over the next decades he was commissioned to document mines and estates, and worked for the California State Geological Survey. In 1861, he made his first mammoth-plate prints of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove, and five years later he photographed Oregon’s Columbia River. Watkins stopped working around 1895 and by five years later was blind. He lost the entire contents of his studio in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. This reprint was apparently limited to an edition of 125 copies. Near fine condition. $35
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Paul Hickman, Carleton Watkins, 1829-1916, Tempe: Arizona State University Art Department (Northlight, Number 1, January 1977). Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 42 pages, unillustrated.
An overview of the life and work of Watkins, heavily footnoted and written by a graduate student in the history of photography at the university. Near fine condition. $25
- WATKINS, Carleton E. California History, Fall 1978. Special issue: “Carleton E. Watkins, Pioneer Photographer.”
Nearly the entire issue of the magazine of the California Historical Society is devoted to Watkins. The articles, covering sixty pages, are: “Watkins and the Historical Record” by Richard Rudisill, “Before Yosemite Art Gallery: Watkins’ Early Career” by Pauline Grenbeaux, “Watkins’ Style and Technique in the Early Photographs” by Nanette Sexton, “Watkins—The Photographer as Publisher” by Peter E. Palmquist, and “Watkins’ Photographs in the California Historical Society Library” by Laverne Mau Dicker.” A few bends to covers. $35
- WATKINS, Carleton E. James Alinder, Carleton Watkins: Photographs of the Columbia River and Oregon, Carmel, California: Friends of Photography, 1979. Hardcover (copper-stamped white cloth), 9 ¼ x 11 ½ inches, 136 pages, 54 three-color illustrations, dustjacket. With ephemera.
This volume is one of the most attractive on Watkins and presents one of his most important bodies of work. It features all the plates from a rare album of the subject, showing towns, mills, railroad lines, the river, and the landscape, in breathtaking detail and beauty. David Feathertsone provides a biographical essay that describes Watkins’ time in Oregon, and Russ Anderson provides a critical perspective on the sequencing of the photographs, maintained from the original. Gorgeous reproduction quality and book design. Laid in is a prospectus for the book. Fine condition. $125
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Peter E. Palmquist, Carleton E. Watkins: Photographer of the American West, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983. Hardcover (gold-stamped rust cloth), 9 ¼ x 12 ½ inches, 236 pages, halftone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, signed.
Thirty years after its publication in conjunction with a show at the Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), this remains the most in-depth and authoritative book on Watkins. Includes a foreword by curator Martha Sandweiss and a biographical essay by Palmquist, which covers all his major bodies of work, such as San Francisco, Yosemite Valley, and Oregon’s Columbia River. Features a chronology and appendices on collections of Watkins material, albums and folios of his work, books and periodicals he illustrated, and a general bibliography. This copy signed by Palmquist. Fine condition. $50
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Thomas Weston Fels, Carleton Watkins, Photographer, Williamstown, Massachusetts: Clark Art Institute, 1983. Softcover, 9 x 7 ½ inches, 40 pages, 14 halftone illustrations.
Catalog for exhibition of Watkins photographs of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove, from the collection of the Park-McCullough House in North Bennington, Vermont. Fine condition. $25
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Richard Steven Street, A Kern County Diary: The Forgotten Photographs of Carleton E. Watkins, 1881-1888, Bakersfield, California: Kern County Museum, 1983. Softcover, 10 x 8 ½ inches, 24 pages, 30 halftone illustrations.
Presents a selection of some 700 photographs Watkins made in the San Joaquin Valley, primarily on assignment to promote the area as it was being settled and developed. His images show the landscape, farms, railroad lines, existing houses, and commercial buildings in Bakersfield. Perhaps the most arresting is a crate of cling peaches tightly packed and seen from above. Near fine condition. $25
- WATKINS, Carleton E. George Dimock, Exploiting the View: Photographs of Yosemite & Mariposa by Carleton Watkins, North Bennington, Vermont: Park-McCullough House, 1984. Softcover, 9 x 6 inches, 32 pages, 8 halftone illustrations.
Catalog for a small exhibition of only twelve photograph by Watkins, eight of Mariposa Grove from 1860 and four of Yosemite Valley from 1861. Fine condition. $25
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Carleton E. Watkins: Photographs 1861-1874, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery and Bedford Arts, 1989. Hardcover (brown-stamped tan cloth), 11 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches, 230 pages, 110 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition, with ephemera, signed.
A stunning, oversize book of quality reproductions of more than one hundred of Watkins’ mammoth-plate albumen prints of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove. Includes three fold-outs, showing three comparative images of Half Dome, a panorama from the Sentinel Dome, and a panorama of Salt Lake City in about 1873. Introduction by gallery owner Jeffrey Fraenkel and essay, “Notes from the Historical Record,” by Peter Palmquist. This copy signed by Palmquist, with a prospectus for the book laid in. Fine condition. $125
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Amy Rule, Carleton Watkins: Selected Texts and Bibliography, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1993. Hardcover (gold-stamped maroon cloth), 10 x 7 ½ inches, 190 pages, 34 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is an extensive reference work on Watkins. The main essay, “Imaging the Corporate Sublime” is by Mary Warner Marien. There are letters from Watkins to his wife and period texts by Edward L. Wilson, Charles Savage, and others. Among the more recent authors are Weston Naef, Martha Sandweiss, and Peter Palmquist. Features a chronological bibliography of 345 entries, from 1863 to 1890. Near fine condition. $75
- WATKINS, Carleton E. In Focus: Carleton Watkins Photographs from the
- Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997. Softcover, 7 ½ x 6 inches, 144 pages, 50 halftone illustrations.
Contains an introduction and notes to the plates by California photo historian Peter Palmquist, plus the edited transcript of a discussion on Watkins by Palmquist, David Featherstone, Thomas Fels, Amy Rule, David Robertson, and Getty curator Weston Naef. Near fine condition, except for lightly sun-struck spine. $35
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Douglas R. Nickel, Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1999. Hardcover (silver-stamped green cloth), 11 ¾ x 10 ¾ inches, 228 pages, 120 tritone illustrations, dustjacket.
Features an insightful essay on Watkins’ unique visual approach by curator Nickel. Maria Morris Hambourg provides an introduction, and Watkins scholar Peter Palmquist contributes notes to the plates, references, and a chronology. Among the four gatefolds are three-plate panoramas of Portland, Oregon, and Oregon City and the Willamette Falls, both from 1867. Fine condition. $125
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Weston Naef, Carleton Watkins in Yosemite, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008. Hardcover (printed paper over boards), 10 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 82 pages, 54 duotone illustrations. With ephemera.
A book devoted to Watkins’ most noteworthy subject—Yosemite Valley. The quality, full-page plates depict such famous sites as El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Cathedral Rock, Three Brothers, Mirror Lake, Half Dome, and Agassiz Column. Judging from the design, geared to a popular audience, as Naef was simultaneously working on a scholarly catalogue raisonné of Watkins’ mammoth-plate pictures. Laid in is a slip indicating this copy was compliments of the author. Fine condition, in opened shrink wrap. $35
- WATKINS, Carleton E. Ephemera.
Amy S. Doherty, “Carleton E. Watkins, Photographer: 1829-1916,” The Courier, vol. 15, no. 4, 1978. This is an illustrated, eighteen-page article, extracted from the periodical of the Syracuse (New York) University Library Associates. It focuses on an album of 65 albumen prints by Watkins in the library’s rare book collection, titled “Yo-Semite Valley: Photographic Views of the Falls and Valley of Yo-Semite in Mariposa County, California,” dated 1863.
“Spectacular Bidding Defeats the Met,” New York Times, May 27, 1979. Newspaper article on the sale of two Watkins albums that sold at auction for nearly $200,000.
Carleton E. Watkins: Photographs, 1861-1874, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 1989. Prospectus card for book, 7 ¼ x 4 inches, unillustrated.
Carleton Watkins: Western Landscape and the Classical Vision, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1990. Brochure, 8 ¾ x 8 inches, 8 panels, 5 duotone illustrations. Exhibition item, with text by guest curator Thomas W. Fels.
Carleton Watkins: From Where the View Looked Best, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1990. Brochure, 6 x 7 ½ inches, 8 panels, 5 duotone illustrations. Exhibition item, with text by curator Weston Naef.
Dialogue Among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008. Softcover, 6 x 7 ½ inches, 12 pages, 12 duotone illustrations. Exhibition brochure, with text by curator Weston Naef.
Group of six: $25
- WATSON, Wendy M. Images of Italy: Photography in the Nineteenth Century, South Hadley, Massachusetts: Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, 1980. Softcover, 11 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 72 pages, 102 halftone illustrations.
An understated exhibition catalog on the subject, with essay, bibliography and glossary of terms. All the reproductions are laid out alphabetically by photographer, with comments and biographical information. The nearly thirty photographers include Altobelli and Molins, Giacomo Brogi, Robert MacPherson, Ferdinand Ongania, and Giorgio Sommer. Printed in an edition of 2,000 copies. Near fine condition. $35
- WEST, Larry J., and Patricia A. Abbott. Antique Photographic Jewelry: Tokens of Affection and Regard, New York: West Companies, 2005. Hardcover (printed and padded paper over boards), 12 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 256 pages, halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket, gilded edges. Signed.
This is a large-format and in-depth study of photographic jewelry, certainly authoritative. The text covers all aspect of the subject: portrait miniatures; American folk art; decorative, functional, and commemorative uses; domestic and European differences; accessories; privacy; the industry; and identification, collecting, and research. Apparently produced in a very limited number of copies; this one is warmly inscribed by West. Fine condition, in opened shrink wrap. $500
- WHEELER, George M. Wheeler’s Photographic Survey of the American West, 1871-1873, New York: Dover, 1983. Softcover, 12 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 60 pages, 50 halftone illustrations.
With a new introduction, this book reprints fifty photographs made by William Bell and Timothy H. O’Sullivan on geographical and geological surveys made between 1871 and 1873. Published in a rare 1875 album, they show the landscape and Native American inhabitants of vast areas of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The expeditions were led by Lieutenant Wheeler, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who took the team of soldiers, scientists, guides, and laborers to such sites as Death Valley, Grand Canyon, and Canyon de Chelly. Bell’s and O’Sullivan’s full-page images reveal the grandeur of their subjects and the detail possible with their large-format cameras. Fine condition. $25
- WHITNEY, Joel E. Joel E. Whitney: Minnesota’s Leading Pioneer Photographer, St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Photo Collectors Group, 2001. Softcover, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 136 pages, 375 halftone illustrations. Signed.
This is the story of Minnesota’s leading nineteenth-century photographer, based in St. Paul from 1850 to 1871. It is also essentially a catalog raisonné of Whitney’s cartes-de-visite views of landscapes and Native Americans. He photographed Minnehaha Falls, Fort Snelling, and many other Minnesota locations, as well as members of the Sioux, Chippewa, and Winnebago tribes. Curator Bonnie G. Wilson provided the main essay and signed this copy. Near fine condition. $25
- WILSON, Edward L. In Scripture Lands: New Views of Sacred Places, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895. Hardcover (red and gold-stamped green cloth), 7 ½ x 5 ¼ inches, 390 pages, 150 line and halftone illustrations.
Wilson’s extensive visual and written account of a trip he made thought the Middle East in about 1890. He explained some of his motivation in the preface: “I wanted to see pictures of the places made sacred by Scriptural History which were not ‘idealized’ by the pencils of those whose sympathy with Art too often rode over Truth. I wanted to see such pictures accompanied by descriptions free from either the shallow sentiment of the superficial tourist, the narrowness of the enthusiast, or the arbitrariness of denominationalism.” So, there you have it. Among the places he visited were Sinai, Petra, Jerusalem, Galilee, Nazareth, Lebanon, and Damascus. In 1864, Edward L. Wilson (1838-1903) founded and first edited the Philadelphia Photographer, which was renamed Wilson’s Photographic Magazine in 1889 and which continued to run for a decade after his death. Covers lightly worn and scratched on back. $50
- WILSON, George Washington. George Washington Wilson: Studies From a Point of View, Edinburgh: Scottish Arts Council, 1978. Softcover, 7 ¾ x 8 ¼ inches, 32 pages, 14 halftone illustrations.
Catalog for a traveling exhibition, with research and text by Roger Taylor and professor J. R. Watson. The images include landscapes and views of fishermen, Balmoral Castle, Glasgow Cathedral, and Aberdeen streets. George Washington Wilson (1823-1893) was universally known among photographers during the late nineteenth century. Based in Aberdeen, Scotland, he rivaled his contemporaries Francis Frith and James Valentine for sales of stereographs, other card photographs, and full-scale prints to tourists and the armchair traveler, all identified with his initials “G.W.W.” He was commissioned to document the construction of Balmoral Castle and its residents, the British Royal Family. He became the leading portrait photographer in Aberdeen, and continued the business until 1908. Near fine condition, with a few bends to spine. $25
- WILSON, George Washington. Roger Taylor, George Washington Wilson: Artist and Photographer, 1823-93, Aberdeen, Scotland: Aberdeen University Press, 1981. Hardcover (gold-stamped maroon cloth), 8 ¾ x 10 ¼ inches, 204 pages, 220 halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This apparently remains the only major book on Wilson, by a leading English photographic historian. It is a full-scale biography and look at the photographer’s work, placing him in the context of tourism in the nineteenth century. Taylor examines his early life, foundation for his success, appointment to photograph the Queen of England, landscape work, international recognition, and technical and aesthetic considerations. Near fine condition, in dustjacket with small wrinkles to edges. $75
- WILSON, George Washington. Donald Macaulay, George Washington Wilson in the Hebrides, Aberdeen, Scotland: Aberdeen University Library, 1984. Softcover, 8 ¼ x 11 ¼ inches, 44 pages, 55 halftone illustrations.
As part of his extensive documentation of Scotland, Wilson spent time in the archipelago of islands off the country’s west coast. He photographed the landscape, lakes, stone cottages, burial grounds, mansions, castles, lighthouses, and fishing fleets. Its inhabitants are shown farming, spinning, and tending livestock. Covers rubbed and lightly bent, with remnants of bookplate inside front cover. $25
- WING, Frank. The Fotygraft Album, Chicago: Reilly & Lee, 1915. Hardcover (brown-stamped gray paper over boards), 9 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches, unpaginated, halftone illustrations, dustjacket.
This is a spoof on the look of nineteenth-century studio portraits, with their overstuffed chairs, Victorian dress, and stiff poses. Men, women, and children are depicted in hand-rendered portraits, contained in oval and other shaped frames, reminiscent of daguerreotypes and card photographs. Each is accompanied by a short text, written in slang from the perspective of a child, such as: “Them’s Willie and Freddie Sparks. They was cute little fellers but it’s awful t’ think th’ way they turned out, pa says. Willie’s an editor and Freddie’s a lawyer, and they work together jist fine. Willie gits into trouble, and Freddie gits him out.” The last five pages are blank frames, presumably allowing the book’s owner to add his own pictures. Light stain to bottom fore-edge, in dustjacket that is worn and torn. $25
- WOLF, Daniel. The American Space: Meaning in Nineteenth-Century Landscape Photography, Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1983. Hardcover (brown-stamped white cloth), 10 ¼ x 14 ¼ inches, 136 pages, 110 duotone illustrations, dustjacket. Stated first edition.
Landscape photographer Robert Adams provides the thoughtful text, riffing on the emptiness, beauty, and “silence of space” in the best American nineteenth-century landscape photographs. The oversize format nicely accommodates the large, quality plates. Includes a glossary of photographic processes, and biographies of the nine master photographers represented, including Henry Hamilton Bennett, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Andrew J. Russell, and Carleton E. Watkins. Near fine condition. $75
- ZANNIER, Italo. Le Grand Tour, Venice, Italy: Canal & Stamperia Editrice, 1997. Hardcover (blue-printed white cloth), 11 ½ x 12 ¾ inches, 228 pages, full-color illustrations, dustjacket.
An oversize volume examining the Grand Tours that many Europeans took to the Middle East during the nineteenth century. Cesare De Seta writes about “Before Photography” and Zannier contributes the essay “Photographers in Places of the Sun.” Featured locales in the pictures include the Alps, Milan, Venice, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Athens, Istanbul, Cairo, Jerusalem, and Algeria. Mostly large, full-page reproductions, including a four-page foldout of the fortress at Salonicco, Greece. Trilingual text in Italian, French, and English. Fine condition. $125
Ah, the nineteenth century—it seems so long ago, because it was. Photography has now served the world for one complete century—the twentieth—and parts of the previous and subsequent ones. For me, history is divided by the invention of photography in 1839; events occurred either “Before Photography” (BP) or after (AP). I remember the medium’s sesquicentennial, when every museum worth its salt (or salt prints) celebrated 150 years of photography with an exhibition, publication, symposium, lecture, or all of the above. Now, we’re just twenty-five years away from the 200th anniversary. My curatorial colleague, Ted Hartwell, sometimes jokingly referred to nineteenth-century photographs as “those little, brown pictures.” Yet, we shared a deep appreciation for those masterful large brown photographs, namely the mammoth-plate albumen prints by the likes of Francis Frith and Carleton E. Watkins. I’ve often wondered if these magnificent things were more highly regarded when they were new, due to the medium still being young, or are now, after we’ve become so accustomed to camera-generated images.
Catalog 5 — September 2013