Books about the practical and artistic aspects of photography.

The Photographic Art Journal. Volume 1,—1851. H. H. Snelling, editor. New York: W. B. Smith, Publisher. —A pioneering photographic journal, with an engraved frontispiece of the young Mathew Brady.

American Almanac of Photography for 1863. Illustrated with wood engravings. By Charles Waldack. Cincinnati: Peter Smith, 1863.




Pictorial Effect in Photography: being hints on composition and chiaroscuro for photographers. To which is added a chapter on combination printing. By H. P. Robinson. London: Piper & Carter, 1869. —Illustrated mostly with engravings, but see the splendid photographic frontispiece above.

Artistic Landscape Photography. A series of chapters on the practical and theoretical principles of pictorial composition. By A. H. Wall. London: Percy Lund & Co., [1896].

In Nature’s Image: Chapters on Pictorial Photography. By Washington Irving Lincoln Adams. New York: The Baker & Taylor Company, 1898.

La Photographie est-elle un art ? Par R. de la Sizeranne. Hachette & Co., 1899.

La Photographie artistique. Comment l’amateur devient un artiste. Texte et illustrations de H. Emery. Paris: Charles Mendel, [1900].

La Pose et l’éclairage en photographie dans les ateliers et les appartements. C. Klary, editor. Paris: C. Klary, 1903.

A Collection of American Pictorial Photographs as arranged by the Photo-Secession and exhibited under the auspices of the Camera Club of Pittsburg, at the Art Galleries of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, February MDCCCCIV. Catalogue arranged by Alfred Stieglitz. Cover designed by Edward J. Steichen. Seven photographs are reproduced, including Rodin, one of Steichen’s most famous works.

L’Épreuve photographique. Impressions en taille-douce. Reproductions d’œuvres photographiques originales. Directeur : Roger Aubry. Première série. Paris: Librairie Plon, [1904]. —Gorgeous reproductions of the works of some very fine photographers.

Art in Photography, with selected examples of European and American work. Edited by Charles Holme. London, Paris, and New York: Offices of “The Studio,” 1905.

Les Procédés d’art en photographie. Par R. Demachy et C. Puyo. Paris: Photo-Club de Paris, 1906. —Two of the greatest French photographers reveal their techniques.

Colour Photography and Other Recent Developments of the Art of the Camera. Edited by Charles Holme. London, Paris & New York: Offices of “The Studio,” 1908.

The Fine Art of Photography. By Paul L. Anderson. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1919.

William Mortensen. —The inveterate enemy of Ansel Adams, Mortensen was one of the last practitioners of the Pictorialist school, and did more to sink the reputation of that style than all the invective hurled at it by Adams and others. The problem was not with Pictorialism itself; the problem was that Mortensen had indefensibly bad taste. However, he was certainly a master of the techniques he applied to his tasteless visions, and he explains those techniques in easy-to-follow detail.

Projection Control. By William Mortensen. San Francisco: Camera Craft Publishing Company, 1934. —Once you figure out how to skew your enlarger, you can distort the human figure all kinds of ways.

Monsters & Madonnas: A Book of Methods. By William Mortensen. San Francisco: Camera Craft Publishing Company, [1936].

The Model: A Book on the Problems of Posing. By William Mortensen. San Francisco: Camera Craft Publishing Company, 1948.

Pictures with a Purpose: How They Are Made. By Charles Kerlee. San Francisco: Camera Craft Publiching Company, [1939]. —A collection of striking advertising photographs from the 1930s, with detailed explanations of the craft behind them.

The American Annual of Photography. Under various titles this was published for many years, always with contributions from the leading photographers of the day.

1888.
1889.
1890. Another copy.
1891.
1892 (a poor scan).
1893.
1894. Another copy.
1895.
1896.
1897.
1898.
1899. Another copy.

1900.
1901.
1902.
1903.
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1907.
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1909. Another copy.
1910. Another copy.
1911. Another copy.
1912.
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1914
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1915
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1916.
1917. Another copy.
1918.
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1920. Another copy.
1921. Another copy.
1922. Another copy.
1923.