Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War.
Washington: Philp & Solomons, [1865]. 2 volumes, oblong folio (310 x 430 mm). 100 original albumen silver print photographs, each mounted on card within a lithographed frame with letterpress caption, each image accompanied by a page of letterpress description. Tinted lithographic titles. Original publisher's dark blue morocco, covers tooled in gilt and blind, the spines in six compartments with raised bands with gilt tooling, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, g.e., contained in two modern black morocco-backed cloth-covered boxes. Condition : some foxing to the images, some images faded at edges; binding nicely restored. a handsome copy of the earliest issue of this legendary and very rare photographically illustrated book depicting among the most graphic scenes of the civil war. The photographs, including many of the most celebrated and recognized photographs of the war, are organized chronologically. These images form perhaps the most important pictorial record of the Civil War, spanning the length of the conflict, from the aftermath of action at Centerville and Manassas in 1862, to the dedication of the monument at Bull Run in June 1865. "The photographs show the terrain of the battles (Bull Run, Manassas, Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg, etc.), encampments, headquarters of the troops, officers and enlisted men, soldiers in drill formation and in the field under fire, and the ruins left after the battles. Limitations in the process of photography did not permit work during the battles; the photographs are remarkable documents of the circumstantial evidence for war. Recent investigations suggest that not every site was recorded just as found by the photographer but that a certain amount of rearranging, including actually moving the corpses, was undertaken in some situations. The captions, conceived in poetic rather than terse journalistic terms, suggest that the authors saw their work as having the human significance we see in many of the photographs of today" (Truthful Lens). In addition to Gardner, the Sketch Book includes work by photographers Timothy O'Sullivan, William Pywell, D.B. Woodbury, David Knox Barnard & Gibson, J. Reekie, and others. The work was published by the Washington, D.C. firm of Philp & Solomons, and sold for $150, making it very expensive for its day. The publishers issued two slightly separate versions of the book, one in 1865, and the other in 1866. This copy is from the earlier issue, with the caption "Incidents of the War" printed on each mount. This work - the most famous collection of Civil War photographs - was published in an edition of no more than 200 sets. Truthful Lens 68; Howes G64; Sabin 26635.
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War.
Washington: Philp & Solomons, [1865]. 2 volumes, oblong folio (310 x 430 mm). 100 original albumen silver print photographs, each mounted on card within a lithographed frame with letterpress caption, each image accompanied by a page of letterpress description. Tinted lithographic titles. Original publisher's dark blue morocco, covers tooled in gilt and blind, the spines in six compartments with raised bands with gilt tooling, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, g.e., contained in two modern black morocco-backed cloth-covered boxes. Condition : some foxing to the images, some images faded at edges; binding nicely restored. a handsome copy of the earliest issue of this legendary and very rare photographically illustrated book depicting among the most graphic scenes of the civil war. The photographs, including many of the most celebrated and recognized photographs of the war, are organized chronologically. These images form perhaps the most important pictorial record of the Civil War, spanning the length of the conflict, from the aftermath of action at Centerville and Manassas in 1862, to the dedication of the monument at Bull Run in June 1865. "The photographs show the terrain of the battles (Bull Run, Manassas, Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg, etc.), encampments, headquarters of the troops, officers and enlisted men, soldiers in drill formation and in the field under fire, and the ruins left after the battles. Limitations in the process of photography did not permit work during the battles; the photographs are remarkable documents of the circumstantial evidence for war. Recent investigations suggest that not every site was recorded just as found by the photographer but that a certain amount of rearranging, including actually moving the corpses, was undertaken in some situations. The captions, conceived in poetic rather than terse journalistic terms, suggest that the authors saw their work as having the human significance we see in many of the photographs of today" (Truthful Lens). In addition to Gardner, the Sketch Book includes work by photographers Timothy O'Sullivan, William Pywell, D.B. Woodbury, David Knox Barnard & Gibson, J. Reekie, and others. The work was published by the Washington, D.C. firm of Philp & Solomons, and sold for $150, making it very expensive for its day. The publishers issued two slightly separate versions of the book, one in 1865, and the other in 1866. This copy is from the earlier issue, with the caption "Incidents of the War" printed on each mount. This work - the most famous collection of Civil War photographs - was published in an edition of no more than 200 sets. Truthful Lens 68; Howes G64; Sabin 26635.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
