Photographic Experience 1839-1914

The social impact of 19th-century photography as amusement, popular science, advertising, journalism, art form and personal memento is documented in this massive volume which will be of interest primarily to scholars. Heinz Henisch, a professor of the history of photography at Penn State, and Bridget Henisch, the author of Fast and Feast , have assembled an astonishing amount of archival material to record the ingenious and often humorous uses to which the medium has been put: photo-montages to create a family tree or class reunion; a double-exposure showing a man in the gesture of toasting his own health; and elaborate portrait-studio background sets comprising snowfalls, palatial interiors and dulcet gardens. Each of the 500 illustrations is intriguing in its own right--including the cartoons bemoaning or poking fun at photography itself. (Feb.)