184
would “furnish anybody and everybody, (man, woman
and child,) who has suffi cient intelligence to ‘Point a
small box straight and press a button,’ the material that
will make a hundred fi ne negatives.”
Several publishers of photographic publications came
into prominence, and maintained a virtual monopoly on
the fi eld. The majority had ties to the industry, either
manufacturing or distributing (or both) photographic
goods. The books and periodicals served to furnish infor-
mation on using equipment to the new amateur, but also
served to promote their products through advertisements
and editorials. The Anthony company, which began
distributing photographic materials in 1840, published
Anthony’s Photographic Journal (1870–1902) as well
as books, many appearing in the Anthony’s Series of
Photo Publications, with titles by such luminaries as
H.P. Robinson and Josef Maria Eder. Their 1882 booklet,
The Amateur Photographer, or Practical Instructions in
the Art of Dry Plate Photography for Young and Old,
provided instruction on every aspect of photography
as well as descriptions and prices of Anthony photo-
graphic outfi ts. A rival manufacturing fi rm, Scovill
& Adams, published the important American journal
Photographic Times (1871–1902) as well as technical
books in the Scovill Photographic Series, the majority
of which were pitched towards the new amateur. The
series started in 1881 with the popular book The Pho-
tographic Amateur, by John Traill Taylor, and included
titles other key titles such as Henry Clay Price’s How to
Make Pictures or Easy Lessons for the Amateur (1882
and later editions). The fi rm also published E.J. Wall’s
comprehensive Dictionary of Photography for the
Professional and Amateur Photographer (New York:
Scovill & Adams, 1889) which appeared for over fi fty
years in 17 editions.
Bennerman and Wilson was another venerable name.
Edward Livingston Wilson was a prominent fi gure
amongst photographers, a publisher of photographic
books, editor of the important American journal for
professional photographers, Philadelphia Photographer
(later Wilson’s Photographic Magazine), and distributor
and manufacturer of equipment and supplies. Acting
as journalist for the profession, Wilson’s editorials
chronicled important events and technical advances. He
had some technical experience, and also authored sev-
eral books, including two important textbooks. Wilson’s
Photographics: A Series of Lessons, Accompanied by
Notes, On all the Processes Which are Needful in the Art
of Photography. (New York: E.L. Wilson, 1881), com-
prised a series of lessons touching on art and technical
matters, theory, and history. Wilson’s Quarter Century
in Photography. A Collection of Hints on Practical
Photography Which Form a Complete Text-book of the
Art (New York: E.L. Wilson, 1887), equally as compre-
hensive, included supplementary information gleaned
from the pages of the Philadelphia Photographer.
In France the house of Gauthier-Villars, publisher of
scientifi c books, catered to both professional, scientist
and amateur. They offered photographers an enormous
number of books, including translations of important
German and English texts. They also published the
4 volume Traité Encyclopédique de Photographie
by Charles Fabre (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1889) an
important milestone in publishing as each aspect of
photography discussed included historical information
on preceding developments.
The 1880s saw an awakening of debates on art pho-
tography with amateur photographers at the center with
two British photographers dominating the discussion.
In 1889 P.H. Emerson’s Naturalistic Photography for
Students of the Art, a theory of art photography with
technical instructions (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle
& Rivington) was published, essentially a rebuttal to
H.P. Robinson’s 1869 Pictorial Effect in Photography
which had been republished in an inexpensive edition
in 1882 and was widely considered the book on artistic
matters. Robinson, author of several other books and
many articles in the 1880s (Art and Practice of Silver
Printing, Picture Making by Photography, The Studio
and What to do in It), had been a spokesperson for art
photography since the late 1860s and P.H. Emerson’s
book ushered in a decade of lively debate over the merits
of Emerson’s versus Robinson’s style of photography
and the basic question of the place of aesthetic matters
in photography.
A few projects of the decade warrant noting as they
had associated publications which documented these
activities. Edward Muybridge’s initial attempts at photo-
graphing running horses, his experiments underwritten by
Leland Stanford, were fi rst reproduced as line drawings
in Jacob Davis Babcock Stillman’s The Horse in Motion
(Boston: J. R. Osgood, 1881). In a milestone project of
the era, photography was used to document an important
celestial event. Photographers were stationed in the U.S.
and around the world to photograph the transit of Venus.
Data from the photographs would allow scientists to de-
termine the distance of the sun from the earth. A booklet
of exact instructions to be used by the photographers
was printed for the event, Instructions for Observing the
Transit of Venus, December 6, 1882 (Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Offi ce, 1882).
Becky SimmonsSee Also: Dry Plate Negatives: Gelatine; Vidal,
Léon; Poitevin, Alphonse Louis; Camera Design:
6 Kodak, (1888–1900); Eastman, George; Eder,
Joseph Maria; Scovill & Adams; and Emerson, Peter
Henry.BOOKS AND MANUALS ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY: 1880s