Beschreibung:

Photograph album, oblong folio, 11 x 14 inches, half morocco backed pebbled cloth, 23 stiff cardboard leaves, containing approximately 350 mounted albumen silver prints, various sizes, on average 4 x 4 inches, with many 5 inch circular views and 2 7.5 x 9.5 inch prints of a house under construction, [San Francisco: circa 1880], album block separated at front hinge, spine separating at lower joint, opening leaves loose, occasional soiling and spotting, most Hart views denoted with his stereograph numbers in pencil at margins, generally very good. An historically important album comprising approximately 350 albumen prints, almost 280 of which are apparently derived from the negatives of Alfred A. Hart and Carleton E. Watkins, primarily documenting the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad but also depicting diverse views of the Sierras and California, Nevada and Utah, circa 1865-1880. The album also provides a series of four dramatic and hitherto unrecorded photographic portraits of what may be Carleton E. Watkins, circa 1870 and 1880, although definitive identification is difficult in light of the fact that no other portraits of Watkins have survived from this period (with the exception of a cameo miniature). In any event, the album provides a significant documentary record of two of the most important photographers of the 19th century, and includes fine depictions of their breathtaking and revolutionary views of the American West in the 1860s and 70s. ALFRED A. HART Alfred A. Hart was a painter by profession, but was contracted by the Central Pacific Railroad to document the construction of the overland route through the Sierras. Hart had the direct blessing of Judge Crocker, and was able to halt work for periods of time in order to compose his photographic images, most of which were issued as a sequence of stereoviews. This album contains over 154 large format albumen prints out of the 364 original images from Hart's series of stereoviews produced during the construction of the railroad through the Sierras from 1866-1869, including the dramatic meeting of the rival Monarchs on May 10, 1869. Hart, an artist by profession, was also adept at dramatically recording the pristine landscape and life of the Paiute and Shoshone Indians as the railroad encroached into their lives. Although Hart's stereoviews are well recorded, many of the albumen prints here provide much broader viewpoints of their subjects than those normally truncated to fit stereographic cardstocks. The only other known album of albumen prints from Hart's negatives is housed at the California Society of Pioneers. As Hart's seminal documentary record of the construction of the railroard has survived almost exclusively in the form of small format stereoviews, this compilation of larger format albumen prints provides an invaluable record of the true breadth of Hart's photographic achievement. CARLETON E. WATKINS Often lauded as the most important American photographer of the 19th century, Watkins prodigious photographic record of the American West is unrivalled for the period. This album, in addition to the Hart views reissued by Watkins, contains approximately 125 albumen prints from Watkins' own negatives. Some of the most famous and striking views of Yosemite, Mendocino, Lake Tahoe, the Farallones and San Francisco are represented here, many mounted in the typical circular format of other Watkins' albums. Some of Watkins' most famous images are represented, including "Looking down the Valley from Union Point, Yosemite," "The Half Dome from Glacier Point," "Bridal Vail," and "Yosemite from Mariposa Trail." In addition, there are a number of images here that are unidentified and may be unrecorded views from Watkins' lost negatives after the 1906 earthquake. A complete list of the identifiable Hart and Watkins prints is available upon request. A SUITE OF WATKINS' SELF-PORTRAITS? Among the unidentified prints are four striking portraits of an unknown sitter: thre