London-born illusionist Henry Roltair (1853-1910) designed “Creation at the Pike” (also called Roltair’s Creation) for the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. Lasting over two hours, the ride took spectators through the biblical story of creation as described in the book of Genesis. Visitors were also shown the great wonders of the world, including the Grand Canyon, the Egyptian pyramids, and other international sites.

In 1905, the work was recreated and installed on Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, to serve as the entrance to Dreamland at Coney Island. The ride was shorter than the original but covered the same biblical theme of creation. Both the Creation ride and Dreamland continued until 1910 when its owner William Reynolds went bankrupt. The following year, Dreamland was destroyed in a fire.

“Dreamland’s Big Statue took twenty-three men two weeks to make moulds for ‘Creation,’” New York Tribune May 4, 1905:

“The allegorical figure, ‘Creation’ at the entrance to Dreamland, Coney Island, entailed in its erection unusual difficulties. The figure is that of an angel with extended wings which measure from tip to tip eighty feet. Its height is forty feet. It as the intention to bring to Dreamland the original figure which stood in front of the ‘Creation’ building at the St. Louis Fair but it was found that the original statue contained so much iron work that it would be impossible to cut it into sections for transportation. It became necessary to make a mould of this figure, the largest piece of statuary ever seen in this country except the Statue of Liberty. A Creatry & Co. contractors in ornamental plaster work, agreed to do the work and President Reynolds made the necessary contract with them. Mr. Creatry of that firm, who reproduced the statue and the ornamental work on the façade of the dreamland building said that it was the most difficult work he had ever undertaken. Two weeks were required to complete the moulds. . . Herman Leon [possibly Charles Herrmann-Leon, 1838-1908], a French sculptor made the original model of ‘Creation’. In all its dimensions it is that of the perfect woman. Ten women posed for different parts of the statue.”

Here is a short film of Dreamland in 1905. You will see the entrance to Creation about halfway through, just after the camel. The wings are not yet installed.

The gelatin silver photograph above was made between 1905-1910 by amateur photographer Thomas William Kennedy (1837-1923).

Congratulations to Mike Sunier, who saw the Richard Willats photography album online and published an article about the 19th-century photographers in Jersey, in the 21st-century Jersey Evening Post.

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, off the coast of Normandy, France.

For more information on the history of their early photographers, see also: http://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/The_beginnings_of_photography_in_Jersey

At the back of each issue of The Philadelphia Photographer are a few pages of advertising, many with original photographs illustrating the products.

In the issue for December 1867 is this ad from E. & H.T. Anthony & Company spotlighting “Changeable Photographic Furniture.” It reads: “The introduction of the new cabinet card rendered necessary new accessories in the way of furniture to make an attractive picture; and, at the request of some of our customers, we have got out a set of Imitation Furniture of wood, richly ornamented and painted of suitable photographic color, which furnishes eighteen different changes for the low price of eighty dollars cash.

By aid of this set, you can show in your pictures the following among others: a parlor organ open, a parlor organ shut, a book-case, a secretary, a pier table, a bureau, etc., etc., etc. The above photograph shows many of the changes, but other will readily be made by the photographer. A few of Wilson & Hoop’s “urns and Vases” are introduced in these changes, but they are not included with the furniture.”

Frontispiece portrait of Henry James. Photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn. Photogravure by James C. Annan in The Sense of the Past by Henry James (London: W. Collins Sons & Company, 1917). (RCPPA) PS2116 .S4 1917.

When collecting and exhibiting photography, very often the beautiful frontispieces for books are disregarded. Here are a few of the photogravures in the Princeton University Library. Note, partnerships were formed by Thomas Annan and Joseph Wilson Swan (Swan and Annan); and also by their sons James Craig Annan and Donald Cameron-Swan (Annan and Swan).

Frontispiece portrait of Sir Herbert B. Edwardes. Photograph by J. Mayall, Jr. Photogravure by James C. Annan and Donald Cameron-Swan in Memorials of the Life and Letters of major-General Sir Herbert B. Edwardes by His Wife (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Company, 1886). Firestone 1766.319 v.1.

Frontispiece portrait of Dr. Robert Watt. Photograph by unidentified artist. Photogravure by James C. Annan and Sons, Glasgow, in An Account of the Life and Work of Dr. Robert Watt by James Finlayson (London: Smith, Elder and company, 1897). Firestone 0109.957.34.

Frontispiece drawing by unidentified artist. Photogravure by James C. Annan and Donald Cameron-Swan in The Early Writings of William Makepeace Thackeray by Charles Plumptre Johnson (London: Elliot Stock, 1888). Firestone PR5638 .J6 1888

[Can you read the name?]

William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846-1917) was an American scout, Pony Express rider, bison hunter, and showman. He opened Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in 1883 and continued to perform these extravaganzas until he went bankrupt in 1913.

“His partner that first season was a dentist and exhibition shooter, Dr. W.F. Carver. Cody and Carver took the show, subtitled “Rocky Mountain and Prairie Exhibition,” across the country to popular acclaim and favorable reviews, launching a genre of outdoor entertainment that thrived for three decades and survived, in fits and starts, for almost three more. . . . In 1899, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West covered over 11,000 miles in 200 days giving 341 performances in 132 cities and towns across the United States. In most places, there would be a parade and two two-hour performances. Then the whole show would be struck, loaded, and moved overnight to the next town. Europeans (and their armies) were often as fascinated by the ingenuity and efficiency behind the scenes as they were by the show itself. Not many shows could match Buffalo Bill’s in scale, but all subscribed to similar regimens.” Wild West Shows: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West by Paul Fees

The Graphic Arts Collection holds three panoramic photographs of Cody’s Wild West shows, each inscribed “Terre Haute” on the verso. According to the Buffalo Bill Museum archive, different versions of the Wild West Show played in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1901, 1907, 1911, and 1913. One of these visits is depicted in these panoramic photographs. http://www.buffalobill.org/pdfs/buffalo_bill_visits.pdf .
We are also trying to make out the name of this Indiana photographer.
See also Helen Cody Wetmore, Last of the great scouts: the life story of Col. William F. Cody, “Buffalo Bill,” as told by his sister, Helen Cody Wetmore (Chicago: Duluth Press Pub. Co., 1899). Rare Books Off-Site Storage Rollins 3062

[above] William James Stillman (1828-1901), Athens, ca. 1869. Albumen silver prints. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2008.00003. Funds provided by the Friends of the Princeton University Library.

[below] William James Stillman (1828-1901), The Acropolis of Athens (London: Printed by the Autotype Company for F.S. Ellis. 1870. Carbon prints. Graphic Arts Collection 2015-0062E. A joint purchase and gift from the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund and matching funds provided by a gift of The Orpheus Trust to the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, in honor of the 35th anniversary of Hellenic Studies at Princeton. Additional funds provided by the Friends of the Princeton University Library.

Thanks to a recent photography request, we noticed that the 19th-century photographer William Stillman used his own figure in the preparatory albumen silver print of the eastern portico of the Parthenon, view looking northward, and showing Mount Parnes in the extreme distance. But when the carbon print was finalized and published in his book The Acropolis of Athens the next year, the figure is no longer included in the picture.

Perhaps he felt it was a distraction from the beauty of the architect? No matter the reason, the earlier albumen silver print has become one of the most loved of Stillman’s photographs.

Thanks to the New York Public Library’s newly released digital collections, we can better understand the history of modern American photography.

In 1907, Alfred Stieglitz ran a small gallery on New York City’s Fifth Avenue called the Little Galleries of the Photo-Sucession, affectionately known as 291 (the building’s address). Soon after a celebrated exhibit of Auguste Rodin’s drawings in 1908, Stieglitz’s landlord took note of the gallery’s success and doubled the rent. Unable to raise the money, 291 was closed.

Thanks to the help of millionaire Paul Haviland, Stieglitz signed a lease on a new space in the building next door to his original gallery, at 293 Fifth Avenue. “The wall between the two buildings had been removed during a previous renovation, however, so by all appearances the new gallery seemed to share the same address as the old one.” (see Dorothy Norman, Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer (1973), pp. 75-80).

Stieglitz and his colleagues continued to call the gallery 291 until it closed in 1917.

http://www.nypl.org/research/collections/digital-collections/public-domain

On leaf 54 of the 19th-century photography album compiled by Richard Willats and held at Princeton University is a very early calotype of a seaside town with a castle in the background. That structure has now been identified by Mike Sunier as Mont Orgueil Castle, Jersey.

For the last few years, Mr. Sunier has been researching and writing historical articles for the local Jersey newspaper, the Jersey Evening Post. A new piece is expected soon concerning the Willats album, its many portraits of Jersey residents, and the views it offers of local landmarks. Up until now, we were transcribing the handwritten note in the album as “Query Jersey/or Guernsey.” Thanks to Mr. Sunier’s good work, we can now correct that.

If you would like to see more of the Willats album, click on the permanent Link: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/k930bx11x. The castle is found on leaf 54.

The London Dailymail posted a similar photograph, so we can compare the Mont Orgueil Castle and Grouville Bay of today with the view from the 1840s. To read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2324807/The-real-Jersey-shore-Gourmet-grub-wonderful-walks-Channel-Island-haven.html#ixzz3wOmWArHs