A Concise History of Photography

London: Thames and Hudson., 1971 From the back cover: A long-cherished dream of humanity was the power to fix the reflections of the mirror and make pictures without the aid of the artist's pencil. Knowledge of the optical principles of the camera obscura, the direct predecessor of the photographic camera, can be traced back to Giovanni Battista della Porta. But in the late eighteenth century, when photochemistry was developed, the true history of photography began. Helmut Gernsheim, the well-known photographer and author of many books on photography, in collaboration with his wife, the late Alison Gernsheim, traces the evolution of photographic technique, the development of equipment, and eventually, the invention of colour photography. The second part of the book is devoted to the artistic achievements of photography, and to its wide field, ranging from social documentation, topography and war reportage, from "art" or pictorial photography, to the most intimate portraits and genre pictures and amateur snapshots. This book has a magnificent selection of photographs, examples of the art in all its stages, and of the work of the great photographers, from the early daguerrotypists, and the world's first successful photographer, Nicéphore Niépce, to contemporaries such as Capa, Cartier Bresson, Brassaï, Cecil Beaton, and many others. "Highly comprehensive and enjoyable." Sunday Times. ______________________ 314 pages including index, and replete with, yep, hundreds of photographs ---------- Orders of $100.00 or more are shipped using tracked courier delivery services. Size: Approx 5½ " Wide and 8" Tall