BEFORE THE KODAK ERA

Price, Henry Clay

How to Make Pictures: Easy Lessons for the Amateur Photographer [Third Edition]

New York: Scovill Manufacturing Company, W. Irving Adams, Agent, 1886.

AN 1886 GUIDE THAT TAUGHT AMERICA'S NEW GENERATION OF AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS HOW TO MASTER THE CAMERA.

PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE NEW AMATEUR.
Published during the explosive growth of amateur photography in the 1880s, this practical handbook introduced beginners to every stage of dry-plate photography, from selecting equipment and exposing negatives to developing, printing, mounting, enlargements, lantern slides, and paper negatives. Henry Clay Price wrote for the rapidly expanding audience made possible by improvements in photographic technology and the growing availability of commercial cameras and supplies.

THE CAMERA COMES HOME.
Issued by the Scovill Manufacturing Company, one of America's leading photographic supply houses, the volume functioned as both an instructional manual and an illustrated catalogue of contemporary photographic equipment. The extensive publisher's advertising section provides a valuable snapshot of the photographic marketplace during one of its most innovative decades.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: ILLUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHIC MANUAL.
Original printed paper wrappers (rear wrapper lacking). Measures approximately 5⅞ × 9 inches. 95 pages of text followed by ix–xxxviii pages of illustrated publisher's advertisements for photographic equipment, accessories, cameras, lanterns, chemicals, tripods, and reference works. Illustrated throughout with numerous wood engravings depicting cameras, photographic apparatus, studio equipment, transparencies, and instructional demonstrations. Title page dated 1886.

CONDITION: Fair. A WORKING COPY. Front wrapper present with edge wear, creasing, staining, and small losses at the corners. Rear wrapper lacking. Spine heavily worn with small losses, exposing portions of the gatherings though the text block appears complete. Staples present with oxidation. Interior generally clean with scattered foxing and age-toning. Several pencil notations appear on the title page. The advertising section remains present and substantially complete.

HISTORICALSIGNIFICANCE: THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
 Appearing just before George Eastman's Kodak revolution transformed snapshot photography, How to Make Pictures reflects the transitional period when dry-plate photography was making the medium increasingly accessible to amateurs. Rather than serving only professional photographers, books such as this encouraged scientists, travelers, sportsmen, women, and hobbyists to adopt photography as a practical and artistic pursuit.

A WINDOW INTO THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TRADE.
Equally important today is the publisher's advertising section, which illustrates the cameras, lanterns, tripods, chemicals, dry plates, and accessories available through Scovill Manufacturing Company. These catalog-style pages have become valuable references for collectors of early photographic equipment and historians of photographic technology.

SUBJECTS: Henry Clay Price, Scovill Manufacturing Company, Dry Plate Photography, Amateur Photography, Cameras, Darkroom Techniques, Magic Lantern Slides, Paper Negatives, Victorian Photography, Photographic Equipment, Nineteenth-Century Photography

Item #22338

Price: $35.00