Arts / Photography / History

On Slowness: Toward an Aesthetic of the Contemporary

by Lutz Koepnick

Speed is an obvious facet of contemporary society, whereas slowness has often been dismissed as conservative and antimodern. Challenging a long tradition of thought, Lutz Koepnick instead proposes to understand...

China Days: A Visual Journal from China's Wild West

by Henrik Drescher

The nation of China is a constant source of fascination, yet we rarely glimpse life beyond its urban centers. Far west of Beijing and Shanghai, in the remote Chinese province of Yunnan, pioneering artist Henrik...

A Doctor in The Great War: Unseen Photographs of Life in the Trenches

by Andrew Davidson

Featuring 250 previously unknown photographs, this is the extraordinary true story of a young doctor whose photos left behind an astonishing firsthand account of life at the front of World War I.

As a twenty-five-year-old...

Photographing the Mexican Revolution: Commitments, Testimonies, Icons

by John Mraz

The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 is among the world's most visually documented revolutions. Coinciding with the birth of filmmaking and the increased mobility offered by the reflex camera, it received extraordinary...

New York in the Sixties

by Klaus Lehnartz & Allan R. Talbot

Compelling photographs offer a vivid and varied tableau of daily life: shoppers, subways, Central Park, Coney Island, dozens of other revealing views of the city. 159 photographs by Lehnartz.

This Place, These People: Life and Shadow on the Great Plains

by David Stark & Nancy Warner

Nancy Warner’s photographs and David Stark’s interviews and reflections provide fresh perspective on the history and culture of a distinctly American phenomenon. Continuing in the tradition of Solomon D....

Photography Beyond Technique: Essays from F295 on the Informed Use of Alternative and Historical Photographic Processes

by Tom Persinger

Photography is not dying and has not died. It has been an ever-changing medium since its earliest days, and while near-obsession with the technology of the day may have defined photography over the course of...

Snowflakes in Photographs

by W. A. Bentley

Over 850 illustrations of snow crystals, photographed by Bentley during a 50-year period, for use by artists, designers, and craftspeople in a variety of creative projects.

Stars of the American Musical Theater in Historic Photographs

by Stanley Appelbaum & James Camner

361 portraits, from 1860s to 1950 of over 400 stars. Informative captions. An illustrious collection, long overdue.

Transformational Imagemaking: Handmade Photography Since 1960

by Robert Hirsch

This groundbreaking survey of significant work and ideas focuses on imagemakers who have pushed beyond the boundaries of photography as a window on our material world. Through interviews with more than 40 key...

New York Life at the Turn of the Century in Photographs

by Joseph Byron

Here are 120 wonderful vintage views — street scenes, parks, restaurants, commercial interiors, Easter Parade, Blizzard of '99, Coney Island, a dinner for Mark Twain, etc. Informative text.

The Male and Female Figure in Motion: 60 Classic Photographic Sequences

by Eadweard Muybridge

Sixty of the best, most representative sequences from original 5,000 prints. Taken at speeds up to 1/6000th of a second, incredibly precise images show undraped male and female subjects in many activities.

The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs

by Ulrich Keller

This tale of an unprecedented technological advance unfolds in a compelling narrative of risks, hardships, disasters, and triumph. More than 160 historic photographs depict exotic settings, workers' housing,...

New York in the Thirties

by Berenice Abbott

Nearly 100 classic images by noted photographer: Rockefeller Center on the rise, Bowery restaurants, dramatic views of the City's bridges, Washington Square, old movie houses, rows of old tenements, and many...

The Depression Years as Photographed by Arthur Rothstein

by Arthur Rothstein

Outstanding 1930s photos: famous dust storm photo, ragged children, the unemployed, much more. 120 photographs. Captions.

Old Philadelphia in Early Photographs 1839-1914

by Robert F. Looney

215 rare vintage views — from first daguerreotype made in America (1839) to eve of World War I — capture the charm of yesteryear: panoramas, street scenes, landmarks, Lincoln's visit, 1876 Centennial Exposition,...

Old New York in Early Photographs

by Mary Black

New York City as it was 1853-1901, through 196 wonderful photographs: great blizzard, Lincoln's funeral procession, great buildings, much more.

The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs: Natchez to New Orleans, 1870-1920

by Joan W. Gandy & Thomas H. Gandy

170 rare and valuable photographs of Mississippi River and its vessels: major steamboats, luxurious interiors, passenger portraits, cargoes, mail boats, capsized ships, much more. Informative text.

Old Brooklyn in Early Photographs, 1865-1929

by William Lee Younger

157 photographs, many never before reprinted, show the vitality and variety of old Brooklyn: waterfront, Brooklyn Bridge, Fulton Street, Brooklyn Heights, Ebbets Field, Luna Park, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach...

Genthe's Photographs of San Francisco's Old Chinatown

by Arnold Genthe & John Kuo Wei Tchen

130 rare photos offer fascinating visual record of Chinatown before the great 1906 earthquake. Informative text traces history of Chinese in California.