SAN ANTONIO ALBUM. (COVER TITLE)

[San Antonio: Paul Wagner's Bazaar, n.d. (ca 1880)]., 1880. First edition. First edition. 5 3/4 " x 9 1/4" oblong red cloth binder with titles stamped in gilt on the front cover, twelve panel folding accordion-type view book with each page approximately 5 3/4" x 9 1/4" and containing 42 photo-lithographic images on glossy paper that reaches out almost 8 1/2 feet when fully extended. There is an interesting advertisement on the inside rear cover for Paul Wagner's Bazaar, 22, 24, & 26 Commerce Street, San Antonio, Texas, Importer and Dealer in Fancy Goods, Toys and Notions, Mexican and Indian Curiosities." Among the views are the Alamo, James Bowie, Col. Benjamin Milam, Alamo Plaza, Wagner’s Grand Bazaar, San Antonio River, San Pedro Springs, Our Mexican Citizens, exterior and interior shots of the missions (Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan Capistran, & San Francisco de la Espada), various street scenes, Texas Cowboys in Camp, military posts, etc. These photo-lithographs were produced by Louis Glaser of Leipzig, printer of souvenir books and postcards. He used a method, the Glaser Process, in which monochrome images were produced by using at least five different lithographic stones, not for different colors but for different tonalities. The result was a much sharper image with a greater depth of field than was available in photographs of that period. These album constitute an important visual record of Texas and Texas cities at the end of the 19th Century.