Beschreibung:

Italy—Giorgio Sommer Pompeii Photographed. London: William Mackenzie (Glasgow and Edinburgh), [c.1860]Folio (462 x 333mm.), 4 pp. title and text (page 1: title and contents listing 24 views; pages 2-4 descriptive text), 26 ALBUMEN PRINTS (see footnote; 170 x 240mm., or the reverse), each mounted on card with a printed caption, loose (as issued) in original green cloth portfolio, upper cover lettered in gilt, one photograph slightly spotted, minor loss at blank corner of text A RARE SET OF FINE EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS OF POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM PRESENTED WITH THE TITLE AND TEXT IN THE ORIGINAL PORTFOLIO. This portfolio contains 26 photographs: 24 of Pompeii and 2 of Herculaneum. It does not appear to include 3 of the views listed on the title (Diomedes' House; Street of the Tombs; and The Forum), but does contain 5 additional unlisted views of Pompeii in the same format as the others (a second variant view of "The House of Sallust"; the "Street of Sallust'; the "Temple of Jove"; and 2 additional photographs of frescos). Many of the views include posed people. This portfolio of photographs might have been part of Frith's "Universal Series" collection, which consists of over 4,000 photographs predominantly of historical and topographical sites. Most Frith Series photographs were not taken by Frith himself, but by other photographers whose images he would pay for, including Robert Napper (Andalusia), Frank Mason Good (Egypt) and Frederick William Sutton and Hugo Lewis Pearson (Japan). In addition to hiring his own photographers, Frith also bought the negative stocks of established photographers such as Roger Fenton and Francis Bedford