BELGIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION — Bulletin. First year, 187 - Lot 20

BELGIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION — Bulletin. First year, 1874. No. 2. Brussels, General Secretariat of the Belgian Photographic Association, 41 Rue de Namur; Ghent, C. Annoot-Braeckman Printing House, 1874. In-8, approximately 24 × 16 cm, paperback, printed and decorated cover preserved. Continuous pagination throughout the annual volume; this issue covers approximately pp. 25–56. Second issue of the very first year of publication of the Bulletin of the Belgian Photographic Association, an important Belgian journal devoted to the processes and scientific developments in photography. The Association had just been established: its founding general meeting was held on May 17, 1874. It would go on to become the leading Belgian photographic organization, and its Bulletin, published monthly, is today an important documentary source for the technical and artistic history of photography in Belgium. The table of contents for this Issue No. 2, First Year, Volume I, includes, notably: excerpts from the minutes of the board of directors and the sections; “Mr. Candèze’s Set Designer”; “Honey Dry Process,” an important technical contribution devoted to the preparation of photographic plates, the albumin coating of glass plates, their sensitization, and their development; a review of photography journals; questions submitted; “Our Engraving.” The photographed pages notably show the recipe for the honey preservative bath and instructions for preparing collodion plates in advance, including information on their exposure times and development. The booklet also retains its interesting period photographic advertisements, notably that of Sébastien Gecele, an optical engineer in Brussels who supplied chemicals, lenses, and albumin-coated papers for photography. An Important and Early Periodical Its significance is heightened by the fact that this is Issue No. 2, dating from virtually the very beginnings of the Association. Institutional collections generally preserve the periodical bound by year: the University of Liège, for example, holds Volume I, comprising issues 1 through 12 from 1874–1875, while the Rijksmuseum also holds the first year bound. The Rijksmuseum also notes that this first year features various photographic printing processes—albumen prints, carbon prints, heliotypes, photolithographs, etc.—which demonstrates the publication’s technical ambition from its very beginnings. A fine copy in its original brochure, a particularly attractive condition for a single issue. The cover is slightly dusty and browned, with a few foxing spots and minor signs of wear; the interior is in fairly fresh condition.