GARDNER, Alexander (1821-1882).
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War.
Washington: Philip & Solomons, 1866, 1866.

Comparable: Christie's, 2014 - $221,000; Heritage, 2012 - $194,500.

2 volumes, oblong folio (12 x 16 1/4 in.; 30.5 x 41.3 cm). Each volume with pictorial tinted lithographed title-page of military scenes by Alfred A. Waud. 100 SUPERB albumen prints (each approximately 7 x 9 in.; 17.8 x 22.9 cm) by Timothy H. O'Sullivan (45 images), Alexander Gardner (16), James Gardner (10), the team of George N. Barnard and James F. Gibson (8), John Reekie (7), the team of John Wood and James F. Gibson (5), David Knox (4), William R. Pywell (3), David Woodbury (1), and W. Morris Smith (1), each neatly mounted on larger sheets within a tinted lithographed frame bearing captions, titles and credit lines, each preceded by a leaf of letterpress description (one photograph mount with 'tissue burn', one guard with short tear in the gutter). Publisher's black bevelled morocco gilt, over heavy boards, covers with central gilt-blocked title within a gilt border of triple gilt fillets, spine gilt-ruled in six compartments, with five raised bands, edges gilt; extremities very slightly rubbed, corners a little scuffed. Housed in black cloth folding cases.

AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE COPY OF THIS MOST INFLUENTIAL AND ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE CIVIL WAR: AMERICA'S FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHICALLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK ONE OF SUBSTANTIALLY FEWER THAN 200 COPIES PRINTED.

Possibly as little as only 150 examples issued: 51 of which are now in institutional collections, with only a further 16 copies known in private circulation. The Sketch Book, America's fledgling example of photo-journalism, was also a deluxe production, expensive to print, and expensive to buy. Printed in two versions in 1866, it was originally sold by subscription for a staggering $150, and issued custom-made in a variety of different coloured bindings, with a choice of gilt decoration, to order. The earliest examples released have a copyright date of 1865 and the series title "Incidents of War" on the mounts. This is the version with each photographic plate consecutively numbered and without "Incidents of the War" appearing in the caption. "In presenting the Photographic Sketch Book of the War to the attention of the public, it is designed that it shall speak for itself. The omission, therefore, of any remarks by way of preface might well be justified; and yet, perhaps, a few introductory words may not be amiss. As mementoes of the fearful struggle through which the country has just passed, it is confidently hoped that the following pages will possess an enduring interest. Localities that would scarcely have been known, and probably never remembered, save in the immediate vicinity, have become celebrated, and will ever be held sacred as memorable fields, where thousands of brave men yielded up their lives a willing sacrifice for the cause they had espoused. Verbal representations of such places, or scenes, may or may not have the merit of accuracy; but photographic presentments of them will be accepted by posterity with an undoubting faith. During the four years of war, almost every point of importance has been photographed, and the collection from which these views have been selected amounts to nearly three thousand" (Gardner Preface). As photographer, author and editor, of the Sketch Book, Gardner included views and accounts of the major Civil War battle-sites in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, such as Harper's Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Cold Harbor, Gettysburg, Petersburg, and Appomattox, as well as now iconic individual photographs, "Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter" and "A Harvest of Death", which show the tragedy of Gettysburg. The Sketch Book documents the Civil War from the first battles at Centerville and Manassas in 1862 to the dedication of the commemorative monument at Bull Run in June 1865; alternating objective images of military fortifications, railroads and hastily built bridges, with.

Seller Inventory # 72lib1361