Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1862. First edition. 8vo., half-title page, title page, iv, 244 pp. Cased in newly made binding of paper over boards, with a facsimile of the title page applied to the upper cover. Scattered foxing; unopened and untrimmed. Good. Item #32007

The authors, the Parisian photographic firm of Mayer & Pierson, operated a fashionable studio on the Boulevard des Capucines, with Napoleon III, Rossini among their celebrity clients. Their artistry, range of processes and products, and sound business practices elevated the firm above most of their competitors.

LA PHOTOGRAPHIE CONSIDÉRÉE COMME ART ET COMME INDUSTRIE, listing the partners as joint authors, provides a history of photography to date, and a general treatise with consideration for its uses in art and industry, its progress and future. It is here that attention was first drawn to the Tiphaigne de la Roche's GIPHANTIA, a work of fiction that is thought to be the first mention of the production of images by the agencies of light. This title was included in the Arno Press History of Photography reprint series.

Bellier de la Chavignerie, Manuel Bibliographie du Photographe Francais, 1863, the first bibliography of French photographic books and pamphlets, No. 138. Roosens and Salu No. 4241. OCLC locates nineteen copies.

Price: $350.00