Frank, Robert
Oblong 8vo., 83 b&w plates from photographs. Glazed paper over boards, with drawings by Saul Steinberg. Aside from a very slight crease to the front board where it joins the spine, a near fine copy. Housed in a custom-made clamshell box in patriotic red, white and blue with die-cut stars along the edges and a 50 starred American flag inset on the upper cover. SIGNED twice. The true first edition of this work, heralded as the most influential photographic book of the second half of this century. Issued without a dust jacket. This copy was been SIGNED with a drawing by Robert Frank on the front free endpaper. The drawing is the outline of a five pointed star which consumes most of the page; in it he has written "STAR - Hello, Robert Frank, Washington, D.C., Sept. 28 '94" and in the upper right corner he has written "from Robert Frank." This copy was inscribed at a special event just prior to the opening of his major retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, October 2, 1994. Parr and Badger, Volume 1, p. 247.
Talbot, [William] H. [Henry] Fox
8vo., vii, 492 pp., with 16 pp. of advertisements dated January, 1847. Publisher's cloth decorated in blind and titled in gilt on the spine. Board tips slightly curled; light wear to the cloth. There is occasional foxing, primarily on the first few leaves of text; occasional light pencil notations. Original bookseller's ticket, "B. & J. F. Meehan, Export Booksellers, 32 Gay Street, Bath" is affixed to the front pastedown. A very good copy, housed in a clamshell box of half morocco and cloth. INSCRIBED by Talbot. Polymath, William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the negative/positive photographic process, the photogravure printing process, which afforded reproduction of images from life to ink on paper, translator of Assyrian cuneiform, and etymologist of the English language, here states, "in giving the opinion of previous inquirers, I have frequently quoted Johnson, and also Thompson's Etymons of English Words. But it is evident that Johnson had no taste for etymology, so that the assistance to be derived from him is usually rather meagre." This copy is inscribed in the authors small neat hand, "W. H. Jones, From the Author, March 1877." Talbot died just a few months later on September 17, 1877, age 77. Limited to 500 copies.
[WORLD WAR II] Benchley, Robert
8vo., vii, 304 pp., b&w drawings, with added gelatin silver photographs pasted-in. Publisher's cloth with paper spine label. Worn, with drink ring on the front cover. Gift inscription, Christmas, 1943 on the front fly leaf. Corporal Robert G. Rohner, Headquarters and Service Company of the 84th Engineer Battalion, U. S. Army, was gifted this Robert Benchley book for Christmas during his service in World War II. He proceeded to use the book as an album to collect names, home addresses and photographs of members of his Army unit. He used the accompanying unit roster, a single mimeograph sheet, 8 x 13 inches, dated May 1944, to record by check marks and page numbers those members whose signature, address and sometimes photograph appear on the blank spaces, pages between chapters and endpapers; the roster is brittle and partially cracked at the center. Of the 104 names on the roster, 73 have been checked. The 53 pasted-in photographs vary in size from postage stamp size to 3 1/4 x 5 inches. The 84th Engineer Battalion participated in the European Campaign in Italy, Southern France, Alsace and Central Europe.
[TRADE CATALOGUE] A.W. ELSON & CO
12mo., [24] pp., priced descriptive catalogue, with [20] pp. illustrating multiple b&w photographs and paintings. Tied into printed stiff wrappers which are slightly worn. Very good. [with] Five high quality photogravure plates, 5 1/2 x 8 inches [13.97 x 20.32 cm] on 9 x 12 inches [22.86 x 30.48 cm] copper plate paper. The plates are in fine condition. A. W. Elson & Company, were printers of exceptional quality carbon photographs and photogravures for use in the study of art and architecture, which were offered in a variety of sizes, in a large range of subjects. Unlike other publishers, all prints were made from original negatives of the works of art and on location for the architectural subjects. The five photogravures plates are: Erechtheum from the Northwest; The Colosseum, Rome; Arch of Constantine, Rome; The Parthenon from the Southeast; Temple of Victory, Athens.
Kawada, Kikuji
8vo., [3], [46] gatefold leaves, [3] pp., all illustrated from photographs. Bound in black cloth, titled in red ink on the upper cover and spine. Signed in Kanji by the photographer on the final leaf. [with] Paper wrapper booklet of [16] pp., which includes a five page introduction by Kawada, and captions for all 190 images in both English and Japanese; numbered 411 of 500 copies. All housed in an illustrated slipcase; all fine, as new. This newly designed edition by Naomichi Kawahata, which is limited to 500 numbered and signed copies, closely follows the original presentation of the exceedingly rare 1965 first edition of CHIZU [THE MAP]. Parr and Badger, Volume 1, p.286 -287.
[WATKINS]. Whitney, J. [Josiah] D. [Dwight]
Large 4to., 116 pp., with 28 albumen prints, each 6 x 8 inches, mounted to cards with lithographed titles and 2 large folding maps, which are slightly creased and fully intact. Publisher's gilt-decorated half purple cloth, with morocco spine and corners, a.e.g. The gilt decorated spine in six compartments has been expertly laid-down on new leather with no chipping or loss. The text leaves show occasional spotting, concentrated largely to the margins of the first and last text leaves. The albumen photographs are clear, bright and with a full range of tonality; only a few images have slight fading at the top or edges, as is customary with Watkin's photos of this era. Housed in a cloth clamshell box with a morocco spine label. Intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra, the text includes the history, geography, geology, flora, etc. Of the twenty-eight albumen photographs, twenty-four views are by Carleton E. Watkins, one of the first photographers to document the Yosemite, and four by William Harris. The two large maps of the Yosemite Valley and the adjacent area were prepared by Garner and King and Garner and Hoffman, and were the most detailed to their time. An important and rare book; only 250 copies were published. "One of the first American books devoted entirely to photographs of landscape." Truthful Lens No.185; Kurutz and Bothamley, California Books Illustrated with Original Photographs - 1856 - 190, No. 88; Parr and Badger, The Photobook: A History, Volume 1, p. 30; Howes W 389; Graff 4646.
[HINE] Weller, Charles Frederick
8vo., xi, 342 pp., 96 illustrations, the majority from b&w photographs Bound in the publisher's plain green cloth, titled in gilt on the spine. There is slight rubbing at the spine head, foot and edges. A thin tide line along the blank top margin, which starts on the first blank leaf, extends only to the first text page. A very good copy. "In the important task of providing illustrations for the study, Mr. Lewis W. Hine, the exponent of 'Social Photography', has given invaluable generous aid as has also Mr. D. A. Glascoff. Others who have supplied photographs for the book are Eugenia W. Weller, Frank J. Cullen, Herbert Lewis and the author." p. 327 - 328. This is Hine's first appearance in book form.
[TRADE CATALOGUE] [CHARLES BESLER COMPANY]
Album of 25 leaves, 7 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches, each of which have two black paper frames per recto and verso, which hold the photographs made from the lantern slides. There are 94 silver prints, 3 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches, of the 100 allocated slots, each with a gummed label with the handwritten stock number and location. The photographs are in very good condition while a few of the paper windows have short tears or lacking a piece of the frame; the cloth over boards album is worn and rubbed, the spine cover, which has a numbered label, is partially detached. For the salesman, carrying silver prints in an album was far safer than presenting glass lantern slides; certainly less cumbersome. This album of photographs, which are mostly from life, depict architecture, statuary and works of art, streets scenes from places in Italy and Croatia, including Venice, Pompei, Naples, Curzola, Trau, Messina, Capri, Florence, etc., Although neither the photographer nor publisher is identified, this album conforms to several in the same format, but from different regions, which are held in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia.
Folio, two unbound folded sheets to make [6] pp. text, with 10 photogravures plates 8 1/16 x 10 1/4 inches [20.48 x [26.03 cm] tipped to a stiff art paper mount 10 7/8 x14 3/4 inches [27.62 x 37.46] each with a titled protective vellum wrapper. The text and prints are laid-in a blank vellum folder, which is mildly creased, and laid-in the four-point printed paper portfolio. This copy has the complimentary slip from the CPDE, which is seldom included. Each plate bears the signature of Man Ray, which was signed in the original negative. This is copy number 409 from a total edition of 500 copies. A fine, near new copy. Aside from a slight bit of toning to the printed four-point paper folder, this is a fine, near new copy contained in a newly made gilt titled leather-backed cloth over boards chemise with matching cloth slipcase. In 1931, the Paris electric company, CPDE, commissioned Man Ray to produce a series of images promoting the various uses of electricity. The resulting portfolio of ten Rayogrammes was issued in 500 copies, which were distributed to the CPDE's best and prospective clients, and not commercially offered for sale. The photogravure prints made from original Rayograms are titled: Electricité, La Ville, Salle de Bain, La Maison, Lingerie, Salle a Manger, Cuisine, Le Souffle, Electricité, Le Monde. In 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Curator in Charge, Department of Photographs, Jeff R. Rosenheim, stated: "This remarkably seductive album of photogravures is an exquisite example of his legacy as America's greatest Surrealist photographer." "Man Ray's ÉLECTRICITÉ is not only one of the most ravishing and sought-after of company photobooks, but it contains a cogent suite of photographs that the leading American Dadaist and commercial photographer himself never bettered." Parr and Badger, The Photobook: A History. Volume II, p.183.
Oblong small quarto of 20 leaves of stiff art paper; comprised of a penciled limitation leaf signed and dated 1976 by the artist and numbered 14/20; a leaf signed in pencil by G. Ray Hawkins, publisher, Los Angeles, 1976; 15 leaves each with an original gelatin silver photograph mounted within a debossed frame, followed and three blank leaves at the end. Bound in quarter black calf and charcoal cloth, with the artist and publisher in silver ink on the spine. Housed in a matching slipcase of calf and cloth. Fine. Ron Leighton, born 1944, earned a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in art from California State University, Fullerton. He taught photography at Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, California, exhibited widely and was represented by the G. Ray Hawkins Gallery. He describes his work as follows: "The relation between man and nature has evolved a genre of its own. The combination of organic and inorganic forms and their arbitrary juxtapositions create new entities which become unique within themselves. When these entities are isolated, i. e. deprived of their natural environment, they are coerced into new relationships, often becoming anomalies - paradoxical and enigmatic. Here is semblance, yet its real meaning is intrinsic to the subject matter - its palpable substance which evokes sentient response." Camera, Lucerne: C.J. Bucher, Ltd, August 1972. This artist's book of 15 studies in lights and form, recall Zen meditations. Printed on Kodatlith gelatin silver paper 5 x 3 3/8 inches.
Vintage gelatin silver photograph 7 3/8 x 9 3/16 inches [18.54 x 23.34 cm.] The verso bears the printed label of the Carl Siembab Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, which reads, " Walter Chapel Photograph/ Please return the Print to Gallery." Written in the photographer's distinctive hand, " Return to Walter Chappell, For one-time Repro only, 1958." A fine print. Walter Chappell (1925 - 2000) was affiliated with a long list of noted American photographers: Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Paul Caponigro, Carl Chiarenza, et al. His association with Minor White, as a student, coworker at the George Eastman House, and with Aperture Magazine was one of his most enduring. He was represented by the Carl Siembab Gallery, one of the first galleries devoted solely to photography. In the early 1960s, the home he shared with his wife, the painter, Nancy Barrett Dickinson, was destroyed by fire, taking most of his negatives and prints. Photographs made prior to the fire are rare. This photograph was reproduced as plate XXXVI, the final image in, UNDER THE SUN: The Abstract Art of Camera Vision, By Nathan Lyons, Syl Labrot, Walter Chappell. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1960. "Chappell's Plate XXXVI suggests a galaxy in colliding upsweep. Whatever the photographic source, he has swirled a majestic rhythm of purest spontaneity." Barbara Morgan, 5 REVIEWS OF "UNDER THE SUN", Aperture, Volume 8, N0. 4, 1960.
Hand-pulled photogravure, 7 5/8 x 5 3/4 inches [19.37 x 14.60 cm] printed on copper plate paper and tipped to tissue, which is tipped to the original laid paper leaf, 11 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches [29.85x 20.96 cm]. Archivally matted on rag board with window overmat. There is a small mark on the blank tissue which does not affect the image. Fine. The image is a fine full-tone photogravure from CAMERA WORK 9, 1905. Clarence H. White (1871 - 1925) was born in West Carlisle, Ohio and moved to Newark, Ohio in 1887. An early interest in art was thwarted by his parents. Employed by a wholesale grocery firm, he began making photographs after a visit to the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. In 1898, he exhibited ten photographs at the First Philadelphia Photographic Salon, which brought him to the attention of Alfred Stieglitz and other Pictorialists. By 1899, he was exhibiting widely, acting as a juror for salons, and organizing exhibitions of Stieglitz, Day, Keiley, Käsebier, et al. In 1906, he moved to New York, assisting at the Photo-Secession Galleries. In 1907, he collaborated with Stieglitz on a series of portrait and figure studies, which were subsequently published in Camera Work, and began his first appointment as a lecturer in photography at the Teachers College, Columbia University - followed in 1908 with an appointment at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and in 1914, he opened the Clarence H. White School of Photography, New York. As a teacher he profoundly influenced the art and technique of a number of important photographers, including: Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl, Laura Gilpin, Dorothea Lange, Paul Outerbridge, Ralph Steiner, Karl Struss and Doris Ulmann.
8vo., [viii] adverts, frontispiece with tissue guard, [44] pp., [22] adverts. Publisher's decorated paper wrappers, printed in blue and gold. Although a short text, this is a thorough step by step manual, written in a clear, conversational style. It includes a brief history of the process, a list of material suppliers with prices, and a bibliography of books and articles on photogravure, 1888 - 1893. The frontispiece is by E. [Edward] Edwards and was printed by the N.Y. Photogravure Co. Published as No. 51 in the Scovil Photographic Series. Roosens and Salu No. 8237. Scarce.
Oblong small quarto of 20 leaves of stiff art paper, comprised of a penciled limitation leaf signed and dated 1977 by the artist and numbered 8/20; a leaf signed in pencil by G. Ray Hawkins, publisher, Los Angeles, 1978; 15 leaves each with an original gelatin silver photograph mounted within a debossed frame, followed by three blank leaves at the end. Bound in quarter black calf and charcoal cloth, with the artist and publisher in silver ink on the spine. Housed in a matching slipcase of calf and cloth. Fine. Diana Schoenfeld, born 1949 and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, attended college in Florida and Switzerland before receiving her M.A. and M.F.A. in photography from the University of New Mexico. She has taught photography since 1975, primarily at the College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California, and exhibited widely in the United States, Canada and Europe. Her 1984 M.F.A. thesis, Symbol and Surrogate: An Interpretive Description of the Picture-Within-the Picture in Photography, was the basis for her curated exhibition held at the Galleries of the Claremont College, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the published catalogue, Symbol and Surrogate, the Picture Within, Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1989. This artist's book of 15 female figure studies 4 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches from the photographer's picture within the picture series are exquisitely composed from multiple negatives and rendered in the mid to lower tonal range.
Vintage gelatin silver photograph 7 9/16 x 9 5/16 inches [18.98 x 23.65 cm.], printed prior to 1960. The verso is signed in pencil by the photographer in his distinctive hand, " Walter Chappell, Reproproof." A fine print. Walter Chappell (1925 - 2000) was affiliated with a long list of noted American photographers: Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Paul Caponigro, Carl Chiarenza, et al. His association with Minor White, as a student, coworker at the George Eastman House, and with Aperture Magazine was one of his most enduring. He was represented by the Carl Siembab Gallery, one of the first galleries devoted solely to photography. In the early 1960s, the home he shared with his wife, the painter, Nancy Barrett Dickinson, was destroyed by fire, taking most of his negatives and prints. Photographs made prior to the fire are rare. This photograph was reproduced as plate XXXIII, in, UNDER THE SUN: The Abstract Art of Camera Vision, By Nathan Lyons, Syl Labrot, Walter Chappell. New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1960.
Oblong small quarto of 18 leaves of stiff art paper; comprised of a penciled limitation leaf initialed and dated 1978 by the artist and numbered 20/20; a leaf signed in pencil by G. Ray Hawkins, publisher, Los Angeles, 1979; followed by 17 leaves each with an original color Polaroid diptych, which is titled in ink by the artist and mounted within a debossed frame. Bound in quarter black calf and charcoal cloth with the artist and publisher in silver ink on the spine. Housed in a matching slipcase of calf and cloth. Fine. Victor Landweber, born in Washington D.C. 1941, received his B.A. from the University of Iowa, and his MFA from UCLA, studying with Robert Heinecken. Landweber describes his art: "The inspiration for the main flow of my photographic work comes from artists working in mediums other than photography- especially late Modernist painters, Surrealists, Dada, and conceptual artists whose works have suggested possibilities for addressing my perception about art and its representation in a photograph." Of this artist's book, Landweber states the following on his website: "In 1978 the G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, Los Angeles, commissioned a set of small works for a limited-edition, finely-bound book of original photographs. The gallery had previously exhibited my multi-frame Post-painterly Polaroids and Treasure Tones paint-chip pieces, so it made sense for me to create another set of table-top Polaroids for the project. Commercial candies inspired a Pop Art attitude, letting me suggest fantasies of money, sex and empty calories. I still get a kick out of these sweet, quirky pictures." These diptychs, 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or the reverse, were made using Polaroid Polacolor II pack film, an internal dye diffusion transfer process.
Vintage gelatin silver photograph, 9 3/8 x 6 3/8 inch [23.81 x 16.19 cm] on black and white photographic paper. The top two blank tips are slightly creased, not affecting the image. A fine, full-tonality portrait, signed and dated 1979 by the photographer in ink beneath the image. Gordon Baer, 1940 - 2019, was born in Louisville, Kentucky. Studying Fine Arts at the University of Louisville led to a career in photojournalism, working freelance for Life, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, and other publications, covering the civil rights movement, strip mining in eastern Kentucky, and a wide range of other assignments. His photo essay on the post war trauma of Vietnam veterans was published as, Vietnam: The Battle Comes Home. Morgan & Morgan, 1984. A posthumous monograph spanning his entire career, Available Light: The Photographs of Gordon Baer. RAF Press, was published in 2021. James Baldwin was the writer-in-residence at Bowling Green State University in 1978, returning in 1979 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies. This photograph by Gordon Baer was made in 1979 at Bowling Green State University.
Folio,15 1/4 x 12 inches [38.74 x 30.48 cm], of 76 unnumbered leaves with 152 original photographs 8 1/2 x 11 inches [21.60 x 27.94 cm] largely albumen with some bromide prints, loosely inserted into corners of the album leaves, recto and verso. Quarter black morocco and cloth over board. The majority of the photographs show rich tonality; only a few have short tears or minor fading. The album leaves show toning and moderate soiling. The cloth is worn, stained, and rubbed at the corners. Likely, this album was assembled to serve as a trade catalogue exhibiting elaborate chandeliers, wall sconces and other lighting fixtures dating from Louis XIII through Empire style. The photographs are of examples found in the Royal Palaces of Versailles, Fontainebleau, Grand Trianon, as well as museum collections, including the Louvre, Carnavalet, Bibliotheque Mazarine and others. The majority of the photographs are numbered and titled with locations and photographer's identification in the negative. Over half are from the studio of "J.P." [Louis Paranoid, 1840 - 1893] with others credited to "LM", "JD" , while many are unidentified by photographer or location. The album leaves all bear numbers and some have additional notations.
Oblong album, 6 1/2 x 5 inches, 8 leaves with 16 original cyanotypes 3 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches mounted within rules recto and verso on thick card leaves. The front card cover is titled and decorated with a sketch and borders all in cyanotype; the rear has cyanotype borders; bound with silk ribbons. There is a crack to the front board with a small chip at the lower edge. The photographs are sharp and in fine condition. Weyauwega (meaning "here we rest") is a small town in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, first founded as a stopping point for Native Americans portaging between the two rivers; later populated by fur traders. The compiler of this album wrote on the recto of the front cover (in cyanotype), " HOW DEAR TO THIS HEART ARE THE SCENES OF MY CHILDHOOD" The images included views of a large white house with a white picket fence, scenes along the river front, a dam on the river, the Church, a horse and buggy parade down the main street, barns and other structures, etc.
Hand-pulled photogravure, 7 7/16 x 4 3/16 inches [18.89 x 10.50 cm] printed on tissue, tipped to the original laid paper leaf, 11 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches [29.85x 20.96 cm]. Fine. The image is a fine full-tone photogravure from CAMERA WORK 3, 1903. Clarence H. White (1871 - 1925) was born in West Carlisle, Ohio and moved to Newark, Ohio in 1887. An early interest in art was thwarted by his parents. Employed by a wholesale grocery firm, he began making photographs after a visit to the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. In 1898, he exhibited ten photographs at the First Philadelphia Photographic Salon, which brought him to the attention of Alfred Stieglitz and other Pictorialists. By 1899, he was exhibiting widely, acting as a juror for salons, and organizing exhibitions of Stieglitz, Day, Keiley, Käsebier, et al. In 1906, he moved to New York, assisting at the Photo-Secession Galleries. In 1907, he collaborated with Stieglitz on a series of portrait and figure studies, which were subsequently published in Camera Work, and began his first appointment as a lecturer in photography at the Teachers College, Columbia University - followed in 1908 with an appointment at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and in 1914, he opened the Clarence H. White School of Photography, New York. As a teacher he profoundly influenced the art and technique of a number of important photographers, including: Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl, Laura Gilpin, Dorothea Lange, Paul Outerbridge, Ralph Steiner, Karl Struss and Doris Ulmann.
Oblong 4to., xvii, 234 pp., 102 plates, plus text illustrations. Near fine in the photo-illustrated dust jacket. Watkins, one of the finest landscape photographers of the nineteenth century, documented, between 1854 and 1891, the American West from southern California to British Columbia and inland to Montana, Utah, and Arizona. An authoritative history and biography, with extensive appendices.