Detail: “Farmhand atop Salt Marsh Haystack” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1895-1900: 8.7 x 12.0 cm: The location of this photograph has been determined to be Plum Island in Newburyport, Mass, on Boston’s North Shore. The marshes, in a tidal zone on the Atlantic ocean, is where salt marsh hay grows and then harvested. The farmhand would first use the wooden drag rake to collect the cut hay into piles. It would then be gathered and piled into layers above a platform (seen at bottom of photo) made from cedar wood staddles. This form of haystack making dates from the 17th Century is still practiced in the area in the present day. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Left: Detail: “John Frederick William Herschel”(1792-1871): Julia Margaret Cameron: British: Albumen print: 1867: image: 35.5 x 27.1 cm (sight): The Cyanotype, or blueprint process, was first invented by John Herschel in 1842. It involves first exposing a negative, oftentimes through the contact print method with paper (or even cloth or another matrix) first treated with ammonium ferric citrate. In daylight, the matrix is then developed using a solution of potassium ferricyanide. The resulting print reveals itself as a brilliant blue hue known as Prussian blue. (ferric iron compounds being changed into ferrous iron). From: PhotoSeed Archive. Right: Detail: “Braid and Thread Lace”: Julia Herschel: British : (1842-1933 ) : cyanotype: 1869 or before. It’s intriguing to know the inventors daughter used the process herself (John Herschel was known to only use his blueprint process to reproduce notes and diagrams) to create artistic statements, like this original photograph bound with the volume: A Handbook for Greek and Roman Lace Making published in London in 1869 and printed by R. Barrett and Sons. From: Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library. “A handbook for Greek and Roman lace making” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1869. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7dd58e00-0898-0133-038f-58d385a7bbd0

Left: Detail: “Title Page”: from: Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions: Anna Atkins: British: (1799-1871) : cyanotype: 1843-1853. This title page in the author’s own hand is part of a multi-part volume of 231 original cyanotypes featuring contact prints of British seaweed specimens first copied on individual glass sheets by William Henry Fox Talbot’s photogenic drawing method by Atkins and then reproduced by John Herschel’s newly invented cyanotype or blueprinting process. The importance of the work is summed up by The New York Public Library, which owns this rare volume formerly in the library of Herschel: “Photographs of British Algae is a landmark in the histories both of photography and of publishing: the first photographic work by a woman, and the first book produced entirely by photographic means.” From: Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library. “Titlepage.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1843 – 1853. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4af4-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99. Right: Detail: “Sargassum plumosum”:from: Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions: Anna Atkins: British: (1799-1871) : cyanotype: 1843-1853. These beautiful seaweed specimens was the second plate in the pagination for Vol. 1 of “British Algae”. From: Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library. “Sargassum plumosum.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1843 – 1853. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4af6-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Composite: April, 2016 installation photographs from exhibit: “Cyanotypes: Photography’s Blue Period” at the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, MA. Running from January 16-April 24, 2016, the show was the first comprehensive exhibit on the medium of cyanotype ever held in the United States. Vintage examples from the museum’s own holdings as well as loans from other institutions and private individuals spanned the period from the 1850’s to the first decade of the 21st Century. The exhibit was curated by Nancy Kathryn Burns, Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the museum & Kristina Wilson, Associate Professor of Art History, Clark University. Both additionally edited the volume: “Cyanotypes: Photography’s Blue Period” published by the museum: ISBN# 978-0-936042-06-0. Installation photographs by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Sailboat near Plum Island” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1895-1900: 9.2 x 12.5 cm: The location of this photograph has been determined to be Plum Island Sound (the Parker River) in Newburyport, Mass, on Boston’s North Shore. In the distance can be seen many salt marsh haystacks. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Portrait Grouping with Tall Wooden Swing” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1895-1900: 8.5 x 11.5 cm: Most likely taken within the Plum Island area of Newburyport, Mass., (by the same photographer as it was included in small album of views as previous post photographs) this intriguing photograph shows an oversized wooden swing within a mowed field. One theory for the size of this swing would be because tidal changes could submerge the structure. Note lower margin of photograph where it was torn to fit a pre-cut window within a small album. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Pony Cart in Parade” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1895-1900: 8.8 x 11.4 cm: Most likely taken in or near Newburyport, Mass., (by the same photographer as it was included in small album of views as previous post photographs) this slice of small-town American life shows a pony pulling a floral-decorated cart guided by a young lady traveling down a dirt road, perhaps on Memorial Day. Above can be seen a Victorian home with three parade watchers who stand at upper right. A set of trolley tracks can be seen in road beyond horse. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Woman in White Dress Standing next to Chair” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1895-1900: 8.3 x 8.5 cm: Her name perhaps lost to history, a young woman wearing a white dress stands on a porch and looks away from the camera: a most unusual genre pose indicating she may have been playing a role of some type: for a play? or as an honored guest who had taken part in the parade depicted in the previous photograph? This view also likely taken in or near Newburyport, Mass. (and was included in the same small album of views as previous post photographs) From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Portrait Study near Window” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899: 9.7 x 6.3 cm: Most likely sisters, this moody interior portrait is unusual for amateur work of the period because the photographer instructed his subjects to avert their gaze to the camera. The woman at left holds what is believed to be a folded fan while her companion holds a ball of yarn in her lap. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location for this image may have been the midwestern United States, as it was included in this Peerless box of loose cyanotypes purchased from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Favorite Chair near Window” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899: 9.4 x 12.0 cm: Another moody interior portrait, this time absent of any human subjects, is nonetheless interesting due to the feeling it evokes with the framed portrait of the bearded gentleman on the wall above what might be or was his favorite living room cushioned chair. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location for this image may have been the midwestern United States, as it was included in this Peerless box of loose cyanotypes purchased from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Schoolteacher at Desk” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899 or before: 10.5 x 9.1 cm: With slight motion blur seen in her face, a schoolteacher holding a pencil works on papers at her desk in front of a large blackboard listing student lesson plans including Arithmetic, Geography (Europe topical review) and Language, (Punctuation-4 rules) with additional lesson plans at left outlining sentence structures. The 1896 volume: The War in Cuba, Being a Full Account of Her Great Struggle for Freedom can be seen on the desk at left. A chalk drawing of holly leaves is at very top of blackboard, so view may date to the Christmas holiday of 1898. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location may have been the midwestern U.S., as it was purchased with other cyanotypes from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Man with Bowler hat at Desk”: : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899: 6.5 cm round | 11.3 x 8.8 cm: Possibly a self-portrait, a man wearing a bowler hat seated next to a desk stares away from the camera. A calendar featuring artwork of a horse preparing to pull a two-wheel cart dated January, 1899 hangs on the wall. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location may have been the midwestern U.S., as it was purchased with other cyanotypes from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Mother cooks at Point O’ Woods LI”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: 1899: 12.5 x 17.3 cm: Mary (Carruthers) Tucker,(1870-1940) the spouse of amateur photographer C.R. Tucker, cooks on the beach at Point O’Woods. Wikipedia states this private retreat-even today- may have been the first settlement on Fire Island in Long Island Sound, and was originally organized in 1894 for religious retreats, some from the Chautauqua assemblies before ownership passed to the present-day Point O’ Woods Association in 1898 after the first group went bankrupt. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Woman working in Kitchen” : anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899: 11.9 x 9.2 cm: Wearing an apron and looking towards the camera, a woman prepares to place some type of food into a pot on a shelf above a stove while working in a home kitchen. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location may have been the midwestern U.S., as it was purchased with other cyanotypes from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Picnickers enjoy a Meal”: anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899: 8.0 x 10.6 | 9.9 x 12.5 cm: A party of seven fashionably-dressed men and women enjoy a picnic outing next to a lake. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location may have been the midwestern U.S., as it was purchased with other cyanotypes from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Horseback Trail Ride”: anonymous American photographer: cyanotype: 1899: 9.0 x 11.2 cm: Two men on horseback, who appear to be in military uniform at left, and a woman rider wearing mosquito netting over her hat and accompanied by a canine Whippet, stop for a moment in sunlight on a rural forest riding trail. Photograph may have been additionally printed on commercially available presensitized Venus paper manufactured by the Peerless Blue Print Co., as it was included in a cardboard box of this brand with an expiration date of 1899. Location may have been the midwestern U.S., as it was purchased with other cyanotypes from an Indiana seller. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Dorothy Tucker at Point O’ Woods Beach Camp”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: 1901: 11.5 x 17.5 cm: Dorothy Tucker, (1899-1986) who appears to be no older than two years old, the young daughter of amateur photographer C.R. Tucker, stands at the entrance to a large canvas tent with American flag flying overhead on the beach at Point O’ Woods. Wikipedia states this private retreat-even today- may have been the first settlement on Fire Island in Long Island Sound, and was originally organized in 1894 for religious retreats, some from the Chautauqua assemblies before ownership passed to the present-day Point O’ Woods Association in 1898 after the first group went bankrupt. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Left: Detail: “Baby Dorothy Tucker with Mother”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: 1899: 7.0 x 5.4 cm: Right: “Dorothy Tucker dressed in Fur-Trimmed Coat Next to Chair”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: 1900: 12.2 x 8.6 cm: Born in August of 1899 on New York’s Staten Island, Dorothy Tucker was a constant subject for her father-a high school physics teacher at Curtis High School on the island-who trained his camera on her from birth to late teens. As a cyanotype, the photo showing Dorothy with her mother Mary Tucker (1870-1940) at left was thought well enough to frame behind glass as a family keepsake, lending credibility to the fact the process was not just considered a first way of proofing photos before a final selection was made. Instead, with the sequence shown in this post of four formal portraits of Dorothy as cyanotypes, the process was readily embraced by certain amateurs like Tucker. Both from: PhotoSeed Archive

Left: “Dorothy Tucker Profile”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: ca. 1903: 9.9 x 7.2 cm: Right: “Portrait of Dorothy Tucker”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: ca. 1903: 9.3 x 6.9 | 17.8 x 12.8 cm. Born in August of 1899 on New York’s Staten Island, Dorothy Tucker was a constant subject for her father-a high school physics teacher at Curtis High School on the island-who trained his camera on her from birth to late teens. Unlike many of the examples of Dorothy held by PhotoSeed that lack a mount, the cyanotype portrait of her at right was center-glued to a gray exhibition card, with another variant example printed in platinum showing evidence of being exhibited. Both from: PhotoSeed Archive

“Dorothy Tucker with Fan”: presumed photographer: done in hand-inscribed, block letters: F.L.C.: American?: cyanotype: 1912: 16.5 x 8.6 | 22.0 x 11.3 cm: Shown presented within its tissue-guarded, ribbon tied folder, (22.6 x 12.3 cm) Dorothy Tucker, not quite 13 years old, strikes a pose with a fan inside her home on Staten Island, New York. She was most likely “performing” a part in a school play for “F.L.C.”, presumed to be the photographer of this work who was certainly an acquaintance of Dorothy’s amateur photographer father Charles Rollins Tucker. The presentation folder additionally dated in blue ink May 18, 1912 & annotated Dorothy Tucker in graphite along lower margin. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“White Birch Trees on Hill”: by Unknown Brooklyn (photographer) : American: cyanotype: ca. 1905-10: 11.6 x 8.8 | 16.8 x 12.3 cm: A tantalizing backdrop of an unknown city can be seen in the distance at right of this cyanotype image featuring several sturdy white birch trees scarred in several places by penknives declaring true love. Possibly with a location of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, this photograph, with title supplied by this archive, is by an Unknown Brooklyn amateur photographer whose surviving work was discovered in a trunk in the American South. Background can be found by searching for this site’s 2015 blog post: “No Junk in Trunk”. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Swans in Mist”: by Unknown Brooklyn (photographer) : American: cyanotype: ca. 1905-10: 8.8 x 11.6 | 12.6 x 17.7 cm: Swans glide through mist on a lake in a park setting-possibly Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as many known examples of this location were taken by this photographer. This photograph, with title supplied by this archive, is by an Unknown Brooklyn amateur photographer whose surviving work was discovered in a trunk in the American South. Background can be found by searching for this site’s 2015 blog post: “No Junk in Trunk”. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Dogwood Tree in Bloom”: by Unknown Brooklyn (photographer) : American: cyanotype: ca. 1905-10: 11.7 x 8.9 | 16.8 x 11.7 cm: A Dogwood tree blooms on the edge of a meadow in a park setting-possibly Brooklyn’s Prospect Park as many known examples of this location were taken by this photographer. This photograph, with title supplied by this archive, is by an Unknown Brooklyn amateur photographer whose surviving work was discovered in a trunk in the American South. Background can be found by searching for this site’s 2015 blog post: “No Junk in Trunk”. From: private U.S. collection.

“Man Standing Next to Linotype Machine”: unknown photographer: cyanotype: ca. 1895-1905: 11.9 x 9.6 | 13.2 x 10.6 cm: With the only annotation being the word Chicago written on the verso of this intriguing card-mounted cyanotype indicating origin, it’s interesting to note that blueprinting, in addition to recording mechanical drawings, was also commonly used to make a record of large machinery like this early Linotype machine, an invention that revolutionized the speed of printing, particularly for newspapers and magazines. Invented by the German-born Ottmar Mergenthaler, (1854-1899) who has an uncanny surviving photographic likeness to the gentleman appearing in this cyanotype, the Linotype was first commercially used by the New York Tribune newspaper in 1886 and was in use into the 1970’s, when it was largely replaced by offset lithography printing and computer typesetting. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Starlight”: Charles Edward Doty: American 1862-1921: blue-toned collotype published in periodical “Sun & Shade: An Artistic Periodical”: New York: January, 1890: whole #17: N.Y. Photo-Gravure Co.: 11.2 x 19.4 cm | 27.6 x 35.0 cm: The popularity of the cyanotype process gave reason for firms like the Photo Gravure Co. of New York to provide print runs for a larger audience of works like “Starlight” whose source imagery was originally a cyanotype. The model, said to be one Miss Emma McCormick, was photographed by Hamilton, Ohio portrait photographer Doty with outstretched arms against a backdrop of stars that were most likely added in the engraving process. Doty, according to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, which owns hundreds of his original photographs, went on to become the “official photographer of the United States government in Havana,” his duties included documenting the modernization of Cuba under American governorship. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Bundling and Gathering Faggots”: Nestor Stekke: La Louvière, Belgium: blue-tinted collotype published in Sentiment d’Art en Photographie: Brussels,: Vol. II, No. 1, Planche 1: October, 1899: 16.1 x 22.3 | 26.5 x 37.2 cm: Featuring the work primarily of Belgian photographers but open to all, this folio-sized high-quality photographic plate publication, (The Feeling of Art in Photography) under the direction of Camille Smits with reproductions executed in collotype by Jules Liorel, featured the award winning work of pictorialists who entered monthly contests on a given theme judged by painter (M. Titz) and amateur photographer Van Gèle. Short-lived, Sentiment debuted in October, 1898 and ran until January, 1901 when it was renamed L’Art en Photographie . From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Nude in Darkness”: Léon Sneyers: Belgium:(1877-1949) collotype published in L’Art en Photographie: Brussels: No. 8: August, 1901: 12.4 x 8.3 | 37.0 x 25.5 cm: Translated to “Art in Photography”, this folio-sized plate work was a continuation of “Le Sentiment d’Art en Photographie”, with primarily Belgian pictorialists entering their work in contests on a given theme. Published by Jules Liorel, who also printed the plates in his Brussels atelier, a bibliography of this monthly work states it was “undoubtedly inspired by “Die Kunst in der Photographie”, a German publication, and by “L’Art Photographique” published in Paris”. This observation was made in reference to the fine-quality plates issued with it, as in this female nude study by Sneyers taken in the shadows and printed effectively by Liorel in collotype using an ink color combining deep black and violet to compliment the closed eyes of Sneyer’s model. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Fruit Seller on Scheveningen Pier”: Frank G.(eorge) Ensenberger, American: 1879-1966: blue-toned bromoil transfer print: 1910: 7.6 x 13.1 | 27.0 x 22.3 cm: A young woman balancing her load of grapes and other fruits for sale with a yoke stands on the Scheveningen Pier at the popular seaside resort located in The Hague in the Netherlands. In May, 1910, amateur photographer Frank Ensenberger of Bloomington, Ill sailed from Boston to Europe with his family, where he spent four months touring Great Britain, the Continent and other countries all while documenting the trip with his camera. On his return, approximately 900 selects were made by him and printed in various tints as bromoil transfer prints by an unknown professional photographer. They were gathered by country in leather-bound volumes, of which PhotoSeed owns nine. A prosperous business merchant and president of Ensenberger’s home furnishings store in Bloomington, the Bloomington Pantagraph newspaper wrote of his photographic efforts during the trip in September, 1910, commenting: “The proofs show Mr. Ensenberger possesses the rare instinct of recognizing the setting for a good picture when he sees it, many of the views being truly artistic.” Truthfully, his work was competent overall, with many of the plates being more “snapshot” in nature although documentary images scattered throughout the volumes show better than average compositional qualities. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Children Portrait Group in Holland”: Frank G.(eorge) Ensenberger, American: 1879-1966: blue-toned bromoil transfer print: 1910: 7.6 x 13.1 | 27.0 x 22.3 cm: Standing in the middle of a roadway in Holland, a group of six children in their native dress stand for a portrait, the boys at right wearing traditional wooden shoes. In May, 1910, amateur photographer Frank Ensenberger of Bloomington, Ill sailed from Boston to Europe with his family, where he spent four months touring Great Britain, the Continent and other countries all while documenting the trip with his camera. On his return, approximately 900 selects were made by him and printed in various tints as bromoil transfer prints by an unknown professional photographer. They were gathered by country in leather-bound volumes, of which PhotoSeed owns nine. A prosperous business merchant and president of Ensenberger’s home furnishings store in Bloomington, the Bloomington Pantagraph newspaper wrote of his photographic efforts during the trip in September, 1910, commenting: “The proofs show Mr. Ensenberger possesses the rare instinct of recognizing the setting for a good picture when he sees it, many of the views being truly artistic.” Truthfully, his work was competent overall, with many of the plates being more “snapshot” in nature although documentary images scattered throughout the volumes show better than average compositional qualities. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Moonlight on the Riverway”: Ph.(ilippe) H. Bonnet: 1904-1977: American: born France: blue-toned silver bromide print? ca. 1930-40: 24.8 x 18.6 | 38.6 x 26.3 cm: As a younger man, Philippe H. Bonnet was a staff photographer for The Tech, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s undergraduate student newspaper. He is believed to have graduated from MIT in 1931 as listed in the Tech. In the early 1960’s, a newspaper said he was a well known Boston architect. He also later made a name for himself as a railroad photographer-especially of trolley cars- and made his own real photo post cards and stamped them individually as a “Ferroviagraph”. This scenic view of a river in Winter is from a series of landscape photographs believed to have been taken by him in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a 2500 acre natural area located just north of Boston. A double-lined, hand-ruled frame in blue ink compliments the deep-blue effect achieved through the action of blue-toning. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Baby’s Breath Growing in Wild”: unknown photographer: blue-toned gelatin silver print: ca. 1930-40: 12.5 x 10.5 | 13.2 x 11.4 | 23.8 x 31.9 cm: This delicate study of what are believed to be Baby’s Breath flowers (Gypsophilia, or Das Schleierkraut) is presented here in an album by an anonymous photographer (purchased from a seller in Greece) including a selection of pictorialist works featuring nicely mounted cityscape, mountain, and marine views, several of which show Frankfurt, Germany. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Dorothy Tucker Mounting Photographs”: Charles Rollins Tucker: American: cyanotype: ca. 1903: 11.3 x 8.6 | 15.0 x 12.6 cm: Seated on a stool, Dorothy Tucker, (1899-1986) the young daughter of amateur photographer Charles Rollins Tucker, is shown using an E. & H.T. Anthony brand Print Mounter to mount a photograph on a work table. Possibly taken for one of the yearly amateur Kodak advertising contests, the work space shows a Kodak Brownie camera at right rear, loose photographs, an album and a jar of what is most likely “Daisy” mounting paste with a brush next to it. Gripping the top of the mounter, young Dorothy prepares to slide the mounter with its two rollers over a print seen just to the right of it. The initials “EA” for Edward Anthony, are engraved on the side of roller. The E. & H.T. Anthony firm was considered the largest manufacturer and distributor of photographic supplies in the United States during the 19th century. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: “Thru the Back Window”: Charles A. Hellmuth: American: vintage 1924 Wellington bromoil print: 32.1 x 24.0 cm | 50.7 x 40.6 cm: from: PhotoSeed Archive

Silhouetted visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Gallery 852 in December, 2013 are seen in the entryway to the exhibit with a wall-mounted, mural-sized version of the Cameron photograph “Christabel” taken in 1866 in the background. The show was open from August 19, 2013 to January 5, 2014. PhotoSeed Archive photograph by David Spencer

Organized by Malcolm Daniel, Senior Curator in the Department of Photographs at the Met, the tightly edited show featured 35 framed vintage works by Cameron as well as several photographs by her contemporaries. The glass display case in this installation view displayed several folio volumes of the work “Illustrations to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, and Other Poems” published by Henry S. King in London in 1875. The work seen here at front is “Vivien and Merlin” (1874)- one 24 original photographs that appeared in the double volume folio. PhotoSeed Archive photograph by David Spencer

A painting by English artist George Frederick Watts of Julia Margaret Cameron completed in 1852 is reproduced here as a large format plate photogravure included in the 1893 folio volume “Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his Friends” published in London by T. Fisher Unwin in a limited edition. image: 24.5 x 19.3 cm : laid paper cream-colored leaf: 44.3 x 36.0 cm. from: PhotoSeed Archive

A detail from the first page of the letterpress Introduction to “Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his Friends”(1893) by Cameron’s son Henry Herschel Hay Cameron. A quote from her “Annals of my Glasshouse” states she felt the photographs taken of illustrious men were akin to being “almost the embodiment of a prayer”. from: PhotoSeed Archive

Inspired by the Biblical story of the Visitation, “The Kiss of Peace” is shown here as a large plate photogravure included with the 5th issue of the English publication “Sun Artists” published in 1890. Taken in 1869 by Cameron, it is believed to show Florence Anson at left, the daughter of Lord Litchfield, and Mary Hillier, Cameron’s personal maid. See: JMC: The Complete Photographs, cat. #1129. image: 21.8 x 17.1 cm: sheet: 38.0 x 28.4 cm: Vintage gravure from PhotoSeed Archive.

Editor Alfred Stieglitz gave background to Cameron’s work he published in Camera Work XLI, (1913) with a nod to her willingness to break rules when it came to portraiture: “Mrs. Cameron realized what few could then appreciate, the difficulty of dealing with the critically sharp definition of the portrait lens, and it was to meet her requirements that instruments were made with an adjustment by which the required degree of spherical aberration could be introduced at will.” detail: vintage letterpress page from PhotoSeed Archive.

English Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry was included as a hand-pulled, Japanese tissue photogravure in Camera Work XLI,(1913) photographed by Cameron in 1864 when she was 16 years of age. The allegorical photograph originally carried the title of “Sadness”. entire vintage tipped plate shown on original CW mount: circular image: 15.7 cm | sheet: 28.0 x 20.1 cm | mount: 29.4 x 21.0 cm. from PhotoSeed Archive

Julia Margaret Cameron was one of “The Old Masters of Photography” exhibit arranged by Alvin Langdon Coburn and presented at the Ehrich Galleries of New York City in December, 1914. Author Clarence White weighs in on the exhibit, discussing the influence of Cameron on his own work. Single letterpress page from “Platinum Print”: Feb. 1915: PhotoSeed Archive

“A Dalmatian Maid”, taken in 1868, is a portrait of Christina Spartali, a neighbor to Cameron on the Isle of Wight. from: Sun & Shade: July, 1891: plate IV (whole issue #35) image: 19.3 x 12.8 cm | plate: 34.0 x 26.2 cm N.Y. Photogravure Co.: PhotoSeed Archive

Robert Schoelkopf Gallery paper adhesive label from ca. 1965-1972 affixed to verso of mount from photograph “Friar Laurence and Juliet” : 5.8 x 11.1 cm. Formerly located at 825 Madison Ave. in New York City, the Schoelkopf gallery was established in 1962 and closed in 1991. It was one of the very first in the United States to present photography as a fine art and by the Spring of 1974, had “opened a gallery dedicated to photography on the second floor” of this address. from: PhotoSeed Archive

“Friar Laurence and Juliet”, by Julia Margaret Cameron: copyrighted Nov. 11, 1865. Three separate versions of this title exist as recorded in Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs. (Cox & Ford) This version with model Mary Hillier- Cameron’s personal maid- wearing lighter-colored topcoat posing with Henry Taylor. (C&F #1089) Vintage albumen silver print mounted separately on board presented within window of modern mount. Condition of print exhibits uneven arched top with free-hand drawn ink line near top margin and surface marks to print emulsion. image: 28.2 x 28.6 cm | mount: 60.7 x 50.7 cm. photograph placed at auction by Robert Schoelkopf Gallery in 1972 (Parke-Bernet) and acquired by Peter Hukill. from: PhotoSeed Archive

Taken ca. 1903-05 and the subject of an extensive series of photographs by her amateur photographer father from infancy to late teens, Dorothy (b. August, 1899, of Staten Island, N.Y.) prepares to squeeze a bulb shutter while photographing her dolly. This photograph or variant was likely entered in one of the annual “Kodak Competitions” from the period, as it features the company’s products, including a tripod-mounted plate camera. (undetermined model) A camera and tripod case can be seen on floor along with a single plate holder and dark cloth. Dorothy holds the dark slide for the camera in her left hand while making the exposure. Mounted vintage gelatin silver print: 17.9 x 22.0 cm | 11.0 x 14.1 cm: from: PhotoSeed Archive (photographer details withheld pending further research)

Letterpress detail from cover: (24.2 x 18.0 cm) “Souvenir Kodak Competition 1905”. This souvenir book is believed to have been published sometime in 1906 or 1907, the culmination of one of the company’s annual contests which included public exhibitions in major American cities at the end of 1906 and through March of 1907. From PhotoSeed Archive

Left: Maine resident and amateur photographer Benjamin Wilder Guppy (1870-1960) won $10.00 and an honorable mention in the “1905 Kodak Competition” for this photograph: “The Passing Show”, used as the cover photograph of the souvenir book: gelatin silver print: 6.6 x 5.2 cm. (PhotoSeed Archive) Right: the uncropped version of “The Passing Show” as it appeared in the Kodak exhibitions from 1906-07.: source: halftone from: “The Photographic Times”: New York: December, 1906: p. 532

The 1905 Kodak Competition as well as the annual contests that followed were heavily promoted by the Eastman Kodak Company in their dealer trade circulars. This composite of editorial and advertising matter are taken from 1904-05. Left: first notice for the contest appeared in December, 1904. Right column, top: Kodak dealers are told of the Advantage they would receive (in increased sales) by “pushing” the contest on their customers. Middle: In January, dealers are alerted that “all beginners in the field should have their attention called to the Novice class that has been provided for their especial benefit.” “This contest is simply one of the means we offer you for stirring up interest among your customers.” Bottom: The term “Boom”, an arcane word similar to “Shout” from the beginning of the 20th century, was used in an advertisement for the contest in the May, 1905 issue of the circular. Letterpress pages from Canadian Kodak Co., Limited Trade Circular: Toronto: online resource courtesy Ryerson University Library Special Collections

Ten original photographs printed on Kodak gelatin silver papers are featured in the souvenir book for the 1905 Kodak Competition. Top: “Lady and Child”, (9.8 x 12.2 cm | 9.1 x 11.5 cm) likely from a copy negative or print, (as it includes a gray border) is by American master Edward Steichen. Printed on Portrait Velox paper, it is also known as Mother and Child — Sunlight,  (published as a photogravure in Camera Work XIV) and won the $150.00 first prize for him in the Class A Open category, featuring negatives 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ or larger in size. Bottom: “La Moulin de Valcanville” (6.2 x 8.5 cm |5.4 x 7.8 cm) by Pierre Lejards of Paris, France is printed on Eastman’s Sepia Paper. It was awarded honorable mention and earned him a No. 0  F.P. Kodak camera in the Class F Novice category.  (Brownie Pictures) from: PhotoSeed Archive

The September, 1904 issue of the Kodak Trade Circular featured brand logos of various Kodak papers, including W-D Platinum, (water development) Mezzo-Tone, and Eastman’s Sepia Paper. Along with Portrait and Velvet Velox, the papers were used to print winning entries for the 1905 Kodak Competition souvenir book. Composite letterpress advertisements: Canadian Kodak Co., Limited Trade Circular: Toronto: online resource courtesy Ryerson University Library Special Collections

“Sharp as a needle or as woolly as Mary’s little lamb” : In announcing the three judges for the 1905 Competition, the April, 1905 issue of the Kodak Trade Circular let it be known the contest would be open to all schools of photography, as well as degrees of experience. from: Canadian Kodak Co., Limited Trade Circular: Toronto: online resource courtesy Ryerson University Library Special Collections

Detail: Alfred Stieglitz: “Soap Bubbles”, from 1905 Kodak Competition Souvenir book. (8.8 x 14.4 cm | 8.0 x 13.7 cm) Printed on Velvet Velox and believed to be from the original negative, Stieglitz received an honorable mention and $20.00 in the Kodak contest in Class C Open category for Enlargements. from: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: letterpress: Awards for the 1905 Kodak Competition were announced and listed in March, 1906. Some of the results for the bigger names who competed in Class A, Open category, (negatives 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ or larger in size) are seen here. From: Canadian Kodak Co., Limited Trade Circular: Toronto: March, 1906: online resource courtesy Ryerson University Library Special Collections

20 winning photographs printed as halftones (printed on coated manilla stock) are featured in the souvenir book for the 1905 Kodak Competition. This representative page spread features clockwise from top left: “Dream” by Annie W. Brigman, “Decorative Study” by E.B. Vignoles, “Hallowe’en” by Mrs. Myra A. Wiggins, “Kodaking” by Alfred Stieglitz, “Mountain Nymph” by Miss Jessie Willard. Dimensions of open book sans card cover: 23.5 x 34.5 cm from: PhotoSeed Archive

Edward Steichen won 2nd prize and $100.00 in the Class C open category for enlargements for this photo titled “Sheep Study”. This halftone version from the enlarged exhibited print was reproduced in London’s Amateur Photographer in August, 1907. Compared to the more commonly known version by Steichen’s hand, a hand-toned photogravure published in Camera Work XIX, this image is practically “straight”. The editors however make their feelings known it does no justice to his original intent: “In the second place, the pictures are not the original prize-winning prints, but enlargements made at the Company’s English works; and however skilful the enlarger is, he cannot possibly always catch and elaborate the ideas of men like Steichen. Bearing this in mind, it is easy to imagine the beauty of Steichen’s own enlargement of the “Sheep Study,” No. 1, with the sheep blended into a soft mass of tones”…

Detail: Edward Steichen: “Pastoral – Moonlight” (Camera Work XIX, 1907: 15.6 x 19.9 cm) This blue/green hand-toned photogravure better reflects the intent of Steichen as it is by his own hand- especially when compared to the “straight” version exhibited in London in 1906 as part of the 1905 Kodak Competition. from: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: platinum print: “Threading the Needle”, (12.4 x 9.9 cm | 11.7 x 9.2 cm) by Nancy Ford Cones (American,1869-1962) This photograph, printed on Kodak’s WD Platinum (water-development) paper, and featured in the 1905 Competition Souvenir book, won the $100.00 second prize for Cones in the Class A Open category, featuring negatives 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ or larger in size. Cones was born in Milan, Ohio but is listed as being from Covington, Kentucky when the photo was taken. from: PhotoSeed Archive

Detail: gelatin silver print: “Melody”, (16.4 x 11.2 cm | 15.7 x 10.6 cm) by Anne Brigman (American, 1869-1950) This photograph, which a critic in London’s Amateur Photographer journal in 1907 proclaimed “One of the finest pictures ever rendered by the camera” is printed on Kodak’s Carbon Velox paper, and featured in the 1905 Competition Souvenir book. It won an honorable mention and $20.00 for Brigman in the Class C Open category for Enlargements. The photo is also known as “Woman with Mandolin” from: PhotoSeed Archive

While a lampost banner with the Heinrich Kühn photograph “Study in Tonal Values III, (Mary Warner)” taken in 1908 is displayed along East 86th Street near the New York City museum Neue Galerie for the show “Heinrich Kuehn and his American Circle: Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen”, the evolving tableau of life on the street below provides for a continual source of photographic delights. PhotoSeed Archive photograph by David Spencer

Originally finished in 1914 for the industrialist William Starr Miller II at 1048 Fifth Avenue by the architectural firm Carrère & Hastings, (responsible for the design of the New York Public Library) the Neue Galerie was first opened to the public in 2001 and specializes in German and Austrian art and design. PhotoSeed Archive photograph by David Spencer

Left: self-portrait of Heinrich Kühn from October, 1901 issue of Photographisches Centralblatt; Middle: detail: multiple-color lithograph by Munich illustrator Fritz Rehm for German dry plate manufacturer Otto Perutz; Right: detail: Peter Behrens Jugendstil calendar. (all from PhotoSeed Archive) All three artists represented here were active participants in the Munich Secession at the end of the 19th century, an important exchange of creative ideas and radical thought made real through their own works. Behrens, whose work is in the permanent collection at the Neue Galerie, later went on to be one of the founders of the German Werkbund, a German modernist arts & crafts movement founded in 1907.

The sweeping wrought-iron staircase seemed a perfect fit for whisking visitors to the third floor exhibition galleries at the Neue Galerie, where some of the breathtaking landscape work of Kühn was on display in the form of vintage, large format gum-bichromate prints. An enlarged exhibition panel above the visitors at center is taken from the photograph “Mary Warner and Edeltrude on the Brow of a Hill”, ca. 1908-originally taken by Kühn on a color Autochrome Lumière plate, first introduced in 1907. PhotoSeed Archive photograph by David Spencer

The 4th gallery exhibition space, titled “Family Drama”, is taken up at right by a dark cherry-stained wood lattice panel: a re-creation of the backdrop Kühn utilized for some of his portraits. Photograph courtesy of the Neue Galerie.

One of many portraits Kühn used the backdrop for was for this study of Tyrolean sculptor and painter Hans Perathoner. (1872-1946) Taken ca. 1906-1907, the portrait was reproduced as a hand-pulled photogravure in Camera Work XXXIII (1911). Image courtesy of Photogravure.com

Tea Still-life, Version III (Teestilleben, III. Fassung) is a fine example of Kühn’s still-life work showing his masterful control of light. Later reproduced as a hand-pulled photogravure by the Berlin atelier Otto Felsing and appearing in the January, 1908 issue of Photographische Rundschau , it was also most likely taken in one of his new home photographic studios on Richard Wagner Strasse, designed by Wiener Werkstätte founders Josef Hoffman and Koloman Moser. Image: (13.1 x 17.7 cm) from PhotoSeed Archive

The 2nd gallery exhibition space, titled “Early Success”, features a re-creation at far right of the 6th exhibition that took place at the Alfred Stieglitz gallery “291” on Fifth Avenue-from April 7-28, 1906. The Viennese and German photographers Heinrich Kühn, Hans Watzek and Hugo Henneberg-known as the Cloverleaf or Viennese Trifolium, all had vintage, massive frames on display. Photograph courtesy of the Neue Galerie.

One of the original vintage framed photographs on display in the “Early Success” gallery was this landscape study titled “Twilight” (Dämmerung), which Kühn did in 1896. This hand-pulled Chine-collé photogravure version published in the important Austrian photographic journal Wiener Photographische Blätter in February, 1897 surely does the original an injustice: a bi-color gum bichromate print (enhanced with watercolor) that is certainly unique. Image: (15.6 x 11.8 cm) PhotoSeed Archive

White Excursion, (Weier Ausflug) from ca. 1905, is a fine early example of genre landscape study by Kühn incorporating his family members taken in the Tyrol. (most likely nanny Mary Warner and daughter Edeltrude) After the 1907 introduction to the public of Autochrome Lumière plates, he would create elaborate staged scenes similar to this but with specially made clothing worn by his models in order to take advantage of the added color dimension. Image: from September, 1908 issue of Photographische Rundschau: ( 17.7 x 13.1 cm) PhotoSeed Archive

There were several examples of original vintage prints taken by American Photo-Secession founder member Frank Eugene (1865-1936) included in the show, in order to show Kühn’s active participation in and acceptance by the upstart Photo-Secession (founded 1902) in America. In this study taken in 1907 by Eugene, who can be seen at far left of frame, Alfred Stieglitz, Heinrich Kühn and Edward Steichen (far right) examine Eugene’s photographic work. Detail: platinum print, Yale Collection of American Literature: from: Wikimedia Commons

The 3rd gallery exhibition space was the smallest, and was an homage to the importance of the American Photo-Secession journal Camera Work, edited and published by Alfred Stieglitz. Seen here on both sides are all twelve vintage select plates from the journal as well as a framed gum bichromate photograph: “Anna with Mirror” done by Kühn in 1902 and later published in Camera Work XIII in 1906. Photograph courtesy of the Neue Galerie.

The distinctive cover of “Camera Work” featured Art-Nouveau typography done by American Photo-Secession founder member Edward Steichen, who was also an accomplished painter at the time he hand-designed the lettering sometime in 1902 before traveling to Paris to live and study. Detail of entire cover shown. top: logo: (8.6 x 14.0 cm) PhotoSeed Archive

One of Alfred Stieglitz’s signature New York photographs is “Two Towers — New York”, a cityscape taken in 1911 showing his masterful balancing of shades of gray in a complex urban environment. The following description appears in “The Key Set”, volume 1: “The view looks south from a stoop on the west side of Madison Avenue, toward the towers of Madison Sqaure Garden (left) and the Metropolitan Life Building (right).” This plate, with full support shown, from Camera Work XLIV, 1913 (image: 20.5 x 16.0 cm | support: 28.1 x 20.0 cm ) From: PhotoSeed Archive

In the same year (1907) Heinrich Kühn had sat down with Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Frank Eugene to discuss their work, Steichen’s own exploration of shades of gray by means of the the camera took shape in this waterway study of a gondolier navigating a Venetian waterway. Initially titled “Late Afternoon – Venice”, the work was first published in the Steichen number of Camera Work 42/43 (1913) as a duogravure before Stieglitz had it reprinted as a hand-pulled photogravure on Japan tissue for Camera Work 44, (1913) where it was simply titled “Venice”. This plate, with full support shown, from Camera Work XLIV, 1913 (image: 16.7 x 20.1 cm | support: 19.9 x 28.0 cm ) From: PhotoSeed Archive

Left: “Anna with Mirror”, taken by Kühn in 1902, was titled “Girl with Mirror” when Alfred Stieglitz included it as a photogravure plate in Camera Work XIII in 1906. A reproduction greeting card of the image was included in a boxed set purchased by this author from the Neue Galerie book store and carried home in the brown-paper bag at right, a fine example of modern typographic art for sure. Left: 19.5 x 14.4 cm: image courtesy: Photogravure.com Right: paper bag: 28.2 x 19.2 cm

The Stieglitz gallery featured one of his most famous New York images: Winter, Fifth Avenue-the first plate presented with the portfolio.

The original R.H. Russell letterpress for the poster is done in red ink.

Selling the Bits: R.H. Russell catalogue advertising the newly released portfolio: courtesy Photogravure.com