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Imagine a "gold and mercury image on a layer of silver bonded to copper," an all-metal photographic process that poisoned some its practitioners. Imagine an era long before a surfeit of images began to dull the viewer, when a visual reality--not a virtual one--captivated the imagination. The daguerreotype process is not only "one of the great artistic vehicles for rendering the human face," says John Wood, but an equally potent and elegant means of rendering a scenic image. The author has assembled the largest collection of daguerreotypes ever seen in book form, including Jean-Louis-Baptiste Gros's masterful studies of the Acropolis and the Seine, and Joseph Wilhelm Pero's striking images of Lubeck, Germany.

From Library Journal
Invented in 1839, daguerreotypes were small (the largest being 61/2" x 81/2") and could not be reproduced because there were no negatives. These two titles provide a visual reflection of the 19th century through these images and confirm the beauty and elegance of the early images themselves. Both volumes contain essays by Wood, a noted historian of early photography, who suggests that daguerreotypists regarded themselves as artists and recognized the artistic value inherent in photography. Secrets of the Dark Chamber contains 152 plates of hand-tinted daguerreotypes (many never before published) currently on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art. They include portraits, landscapes, and scenes of daily life produced in America from 1839 until the Civil War. Foresta, Smithsonian curator and organizer of the exhibition, discusses the immense popularity of the medium in America, while Wood assesses America's literary response to the invention. Selections from newspapers, magazines, and diaries provide firsthand accounts from artistic, scientific, and philosophical perspectives. The importance of daguerreotypes during the westward expansion and California Gold Rush is especially noteworthy. The Scenic Daguerreotype presents 100 plates of landscapes from around the world. Here Wood examines the influence of romanticism?namely, the paintings of Constable and Turner and the poetry of Wordsworth?on European and American daguerreotypy. Wood indicates that scenic daguerreotypes can be unsettling because they reveal the desecration of our planet. Both books are strongly recommended for general and photographic history collections.?Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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