Photographically illustrated books in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1844-1900

Within a short space of time I was able to recognise books likely to contain mounted photographs simply by the style and robust nature of the bindings, then by looking down upon the text block for card or heavy-duty paper necessary to sustain such photographs. For anyone exploring the scope and extent of photographically illustrated books, the essential guide (and list) is Helmut Gernsheim’s Incunabula of British photographic literature: a bibliography of British photographic literature, 1839-1875 and British books illustrated with original photographs (Scolar Press, 1984). I suspect the Bodleian’s lead conservator must have been inspired by Julia Van Haaften’s 1977 list of New York Public Library’s holdings of such books,[2] and another, American (selective) listing, produced as a catalogue in The Truthful Lens: a survey of the photographically illustrated book, 1844-1914 by Lucien Goldschmidt and Weston Naef (Grolier Club, 1980).

Source: listology.blog