GARDNER'S PHOTOGRAPHIC SKETCH BOOK OF THE WAR.
Gardner, Alexander:
Washington: Philp & Solomons, [1865]. Two volumes. [53]; [53]pp. of text. Lithograph titlepages plus 100 original albumen photographs, each measuring approximately 7 x 9 inches and mounted on larger sheets within lithographed frames with captions. Each image is accompanied by a page of letterpress description. Oblong folio. Original publisher's binding of full morocco with boards ruled in gilt and with a gilt tooled border, gilt title and publisher's monogram in gilt on front board of both volumes, a.e.g. Expertly rebacked, with original backstrips laid down. Boards slightly scuffed along extremities. New pastedowns and free endpapers. A number of text leaves with small closed tears in the edges, or with light creases. The prints are clean and sharp. A very handsome copy. In matching half morocco clamshell cases, spines elaborately gilt. The most famous collection of Civil War photographs. Many of the most celebrated and recognizable images of the war appear herein, e.g. "Burial Party, Cold Harbor," "A Harvest of Death," "Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Battle of Gettysburg," "President Lincoln on Battle-Field of Antietam," etc. The photographs are organized chronologically, beginning in 1862 and ending with the dedication of the monument at Bull Run to commemorate the Union soldiers who died there. Unlike Brady, who was in the habit of placing his name on images made by his field operators, Gardner specifically credits each image to the particular photographer, shedding light on the work of some of the most distinguished American photographers of the day. In addition to Gardner, the ...SKETCHBOOK... includes work by Timothy O'Sullivan, William Pywell, D.B. Woodbury, David Knox, Barnard & Gibson, J. Reekie, and others. 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. "[GARDNER'S PHOTOGRAPHIC SKETCH BOOK OF THE WAR] is one of the most important sources of information that we have on the subject, as from it we learn the names of many men who actually made the photographs of the Civil War, and were employed by Brady and Gardner" - Taft. "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" - Goldschmidt & Naef. Gardner's work was published by the Washington, D.C. firm of Philp & Solomons, and produced in an edition of 200 sets. It carried the rather hefty price of $150. The 100 photographs included were selected from a collection of over 3,000 negatives, and the lithographic titlepages were designed by Alfred R. Waud (though designated A.R. Ward on the titlepages), one of the most important illustrators of the 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 caption was removed for the 1866 issue. A legendary photographically illustrated book, with some of the most graphic scenes of the Civil War, and one of the most important of American books. HOWES G64. SABIN 26635. GOLDSCHMIDT & NAEF, TRUTHFUL LENS 68. NEVINS II, p.14. Julie L. Mellby, "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War" in PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CHRONICLE (Winter, 2006), pp.435-40.
(Item ID: WRCAM37964) $200,000.00