BUERGER (Janet E.) - Lot 42

BUERGER (Janet E.) French Daguerreotypes. Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press, 1989. Large quarto, publisher’s gray cloth binding with illustrated dust jacket. An important reference work devoted to French daguerreotypes, published to coincide with the exhibition of the collections of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. This richly illustrated study constitutes the first catalog raisonné of this remarkable collection and places the daguerreotype within its artistic, scientific, and cultural context, from its invention in 1839 through its heyday in the mid-19th century. The book includes more than two hundred reproductions, including twenty-two color plates, a technical appendix on the coloring of daguerreotypes by Alice Swan, a detailed catalog of the reproduced works, and a comprehensive critical apparatus. It remains one of the major bibliographic references on the subject today. A very fine copy, preserved in its original dust jacket, showing only slight signs of wear from handling.