Vues de l'Amerique (album of original photographs)
circa 1880 - 1890. Oblong 4to. (10.5" x 15.5"). With 26 albumen prints mounted recto only on thick card, landscape and portrait format (approximately from 195 x 260 to 124 x 200 mm., or the reverse). 12 captioned in the negative by Taber's studio, 3 captioned in the negative by Pollock's studio, 14 photographs captioned on the mount in ink in French. The photographs are beautifully presented in a contemporary red morocco binding, likely collected by a French traveller. Leather slightly mottled with a few faint marks, neatly recolored in places, mounts slightly foxed and cockled, a few photographs with marginal silver mirroring or faint surface abrasions. Else a near fine copy. Item #22306
An excellent photographic record of San Francisco and Yosemite by the multitalented photographer Isiah West Taber. The album also contains evocative images of New York, Washington DC, and Niagara Falls, with some by the Boston-based photographer Charles Pollock. The adventurous Taber (1830-1912) arrived in San Francisco at the beginning of the gold rush in 1849. Quickly deciding there was more money in trade than digging for gold, Taber eventually established his photography studio in San Francisco, during which time he acquired the entire archive of the landscape photographer Carleton Watkins. In 1888, he was appointed a Yosemite commissioner in appreciation of his work to spread its beauty. Sadly, Taber's studio was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fired with an estimated loss of about 20 tons of view negatives and 80 tons of portrait negatives; he never reopened his gallery.
The photograph album shows images of San Francisco, including Market Street, Cliff House, and an attractive birdseye view. In Yosemite, the photographs by Taber show El Capitan, Table Rock, and Mariposa Grove. The section of photographs of East Coast America includes the White House, Capitol, Brooklyn Bridge, and Niagara in both summer and winter. Three images of New York are by Pollock (1828-1900) who specialized in celebrity portraiture.
Price: $2,000.00