VISCHER'S PICTORIAL OF CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE, TREES AND FOREST SCENES. GRAND FEATURES OF CALIFORNIA SCENERY, LIFE, TRAFFIC AND CUSTOMS
Vischer, Edward
Verlag: Joseph Winterburn & Company, San Francisco, 1870
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[8],[3 (Concluding Remarks)],[2 (advertisement leaf for his similarly-titled 1867 work)],[3 (table of contents for the first section)],[2 (mounted photographic map of California and "Localization of Subjects" leaf)]pp., plus 169 additional mounted photographs, mostly from drawings executed in pencil and wash, and sectional titlepages. Text pages printed variously in red or purple. Tall quarto. Original richly gilt green morocco by Bartling and Kimball, gilt dentelles, spine gilt with raised bands, a.e.g. Corners bumped and rubbed, wear along joints and spine ends. Early ownership inscription in pencil on front free endpaper (see below). Very clean internally, the photo images clean and fresh. A near fine copy overall, in its original deluxe binding. A singular work of California art and iconography, VISCHER'S PICTORIAL OF CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE. stands alone in its depiction of the state in the second half of the 19th century. Called by Weber "preeminently the greatest artist in the early history of our state," Vischer created dozens of drawings of California scenes and scenery from on-the-spot observations, and reproduced them in albumen photographs. "The drawings, executed in pencil and wash, cover a wide range of subjects, including a rare commemoration of the brief introduction of camels to California. Of special importance are the drawings of the missions which interested Vischer throughout his life" - Howell. Cowan notes that copies of Vischer's work often vary in the number of plates, as we have also discovered from experience, though it appears that the complete complement for this deluxe edition in gilt green morocco is 170, as here. In this copy, the first section ("Californian Landscape") features sixty photographs split into five sets of twelve, including scenes in forests and mining camps, the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, several California missions (of great interest to Vischer), Donner Lake, the San Bernardino mountains, a few depictions of camels (a military experiment of the 1850s and 60s), and more. This is followed by a section of twenty-seven photographs of trees and forest scenes, including giant Sequoias and redwoods, the Mammoth tree grove, and Cypress trees. Finally is a large and loosely organized section of sixty-eight "miscellaneous views," which include numerous additional works by Vischer, contributions by other artists, and actual photographs which include images of the Japanese Embassy, a large nugget of gold, and the Great Pacific Railroad. Of Vischer's works, AMERICA PICTURED TO THE LIFE states: ".there are no contemporary publications quite comparable to them in their eccentric combination of media; the confusion is compounded by the bewildering array of formats, issues, and reissues the artist ultimately produced." Edward Vischer (1809-78) migrated from Germany to Mexico at the age of nineteen, working for commercial houses, and acting as the supercargo on trading voyages to Pacific ports in the Americas and Asia. Dispatched to California in 1842, he became enamored of the area and returned to San Francisco in 1847, working as a merchant and agent for foreign companies during the Gold Rush. A talented amateur artist, Vischer began to sketch the California scenery he encountered. "In 1861 he visited the Calaveras Big Trees.In 1862 he published a portfolio of a dozen lithographed plates of sketches made on his trip" - Peters. Dissatisfied with the compromises necessitated by the change in medium, and frustrated by the technical and physical setbacks caused by working on stone, he abandoned this method in favor of photographs of his drawings, resulting in the curious mixed-media work at hand. "Although evidently not a photographer, Edward Vischer was one of the first people to foresee the possibilities of photography as a means of reproducing fine art in books" - Palmquist & Kailbourn. This copy bears the early ownership signature of Henry E. Robinson. This is qui. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM63195
Bibliografische Details
Titel: VISCHER'S PICTORIAL OF CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE,...
Verlag: Joseph Winterburn & Company, San Francisco
Erscheinungsdatum: 1870
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VISCHER'S PICTORIAL OF CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE, TREES AND FOREST SCENES. GRAND FEATURES OF CALIFORNIA SCENERY, LIFE, TRAFFIC AND CUSTOMS.
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Anbieter: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, USA
Verkäuferbewertung 4 von 5 Sternen
The John Howell-Kenneth Hill copy of what is likely a preliminary issue of Edward Vischer's album of photographs of his drawings of California landscape. This copy is complete as issued, containing all the plates called for in the general table of contents, but lacking the accompanying text volume except for three leaves that have been inserted along with the preliminary matter. It is unknown why this particular copy was assembled in this way, and we cannot locate any comparable copies, but Palmquist and Kailbourn note: "Vischer was perennially generous in distributing custom-assembled albums of his art, both original works and photographic reproductions." It is possible that it numbers among the twenty copies that Vischer initially sold by subscription, before offering an expanded version in a variety of formats. At the very least, this seems to be an early state of Vischer's PICTORIAL OF CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE. Including a photographic map of California tipped-in to a blank preliminary leaf, this copy contains 115 mounted photographs, in the following groups: sixty numbered photographs arranged in five series, each preceded by a printed contents leaf; twenty-eight unnumbered plates preceded by a printed section-title, "Trees and Forest Scenes"; twenty-six unnumbered plates preceded by a printed section-title, "Supplement. Grand Features and Characteristic Ranges of Californian Scenery." Vischer created the drawings that he photographed for this album between 1858 and 1867. Featured are photographs of his drawings of missions, ranches, landscapes, towns and small settlements, buildings, the Big Trees, scenes in the Sierra Nevada, passes and summits, and Lake Tahoe. A few images feature camels among the mammoth trees or in Carson Valley (an experiment of the 1860s). The first sixty images are affixed to mounts bearing a printed copyright notice of 1863, and a few of the mounts in this grouping feature the blindstamp of San Francisco photographer George Howard Johnson, whom Vischer contracted in the early 1860s to photograph his work (as noted by Palmquist & Kailbourn). The final "Supplement" section features photographs of art not only by Vischer, but also by Thomas Hill, Thomas Ayres, and other artists, as well as drawings by Vischer of Yosemite photographs by Carleton Watkins. Edward Vischer emigrated from Bavaria to Mexico at age nineteen and worked for a commercial house as a supercargo on voyages to Pacific ports in the Americas and in Asia. He visited California in 1842 before returning in 1849 to settle in San Francisco as an importer, merchant, realtor, and commission agent, and from early on he began making sketches of the natural wonders of his new home. In the 1860s he began experimenting with ways to reproduce his art, first using lithography, but he soon became disenchanted with the ability of the lithographs to faithfully reproduce his artwork and by the tendency of the lithographic stones to break. As a result, Vischer began to photograph his drawings, issuing the photographs in published albums. "Although evidently not a photographer, Edward Vischer was one of the first people to foresee the possibilities of photography as a means of reproducing fine art in books" - Palmquist & Kailbourn. Cowan praises Vischer's drawings as "superb," and notes that "few copies contain precisely the same number of plates," an assessment with which Currey & Kruska concur. In fact, after the initial offering of twenty subscription copies, Vischer issued a prospectus advertising the book in four formats, with between 100 and 120 plates. However, copies are known with more than 120 plates, and one recorded copy contains 200 plates. "How many were sold is not known, but the costly nature of the work and the difficulty of procuring uniform sets of prints indicate that the number was small, an indication borne out by the present scarcity of examples of Vischer's work" - Farquhar. "[Vischer's] most ambitious and complex work.Because of his Herculean efforts, this sumptuous publication still remains as an invaluable reference for studying the early iconography of California" - Kurutz. This copy was in the inventory of bookseller John Howell when it was sold at auction in 1985 following Warren Howell's death. It was later acquired by noted collector Kenneth Hill, retaining his bookplate on the front pastedown. Vischer's PICTORIAL OF CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE is rare in the market - this copy is almost certainly unique. JOHN HOWELL - BOOKS AMERICANA INVENTORY AUCTION 555 (1985) (this copy). HOWELL 50:914. COWAN, p.662. ROCQ 17214. FARQUHAR 5c. CURREY & KRUSKA 380. HOWES V131, "b." GRAFF 4492. STREETER SALE 2930. MARGOLIS, TO DELIGHT THE EYE 8. KURUTZ, CALIFORNIA BOOKS ILLUSTRATED WITH ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS, p.8, item 66. PALMQUIST & KAILBOURN, PIONEER PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE FAR WEST, pp.571-73. PETERS, CALIFORNIA ON STONE, pp.198-202. WEBER, CALIFORNIA MISSIONS, p.103. EBERSTADT 124:16. MILES & REESE, AMERICA PICTURED TO THE LIFE 21 (note). [2],8,[2, Contents leaf from vol. II],[129]-132 (the Concluding Remarks from vol. II),[2, advertisement leaf for his similarly-titled 1867 work],[7, mounted photographic map of California; general contents leaf; contents leaf to "60 Views of California Landscape," contents leaf to the First Series]pp. plus 114 mounted photographs from drawings executed in pencil and wash, and sectional titlepages bound at intervals. Titlepage and preliminary text printed in red. Tall quarto. Original three-quarter green morocco and pebbled cloth, front board and spine gilt. Boards lightly rubbed and moderately shelfworn. Binders ticket of Bartling & Kimball of San Francisco on front pastedown. Bookplate of noted collector Kenneth Hill on front pastedown. Small stain in upper margin of final twenty leaves, otherwise very clean internally. Very good plus. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 54257
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