The birth of photography: The story of the formative years, 1800-1900

4to. 144 pp, introduction and picture credits, 1. The Birth of Photography; 2. The First Practical Process; 3. The Origins of Modern Photoraphy; 4. Wet-Plate Photography; 5. The Gelatin Dry Plate; 6. The Photoraphy of Action; 7. The First Kodak Camera; 8. The Spread of Popular Photography; 9. 'Likenesses Produced in a Few Seconds'; 10. Record and Reality; 11. Depth and Decoration; 12. 'Art' Photography and Pictorialism; 13. "You Press the Button"; glossary, bibligraphy, index. First Edition, 1977. Light brown with gilt lettering to spine. "In this book, the author, describes the technical principles of photography and the experiments of such pioneers as Niepce, Daguerre and Talbot. He charts clearly the widening of the horizons of photography from an exclusive art to the pursuit of millions. Other wide-ranging themes, such as the uses of photography in book illustration and decoration, stereoscopy, the photograhy of movementt, miniature, "Art', and snapshot photography are explored in detail. His text is accompanied by 200 b&w illustrations, and range from portraits of the pioneers to anonymous studies from Victorian family albums, pictures of equipment from Talbot's tiny 'mousetrap' cameras to complex 'detective' cameraas and the first folding cameras, and from the early compositions by some of the masters of photography to the candid snapshots of amateurs." from the jacket flap.