Camera Work: Numbers 13, 14, 15, 16 (plus Steichen Supplement)
INSCRIBED FIRST EDITIONS IN A PRESENTATION BINDING WITH ORIGINAL WRAPPERS BOUND-IN. AN IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ALFRED STIEGLITZ TO J.B. KERFOOT: “To my friend J.B. Kerfoot who has so kindly helped me in making this volume what it is. Alfred Stieglitz. Dec 25/06."
A set of the five issues for 1906 (including the Steichen Supplement), complete with all the plates including:
-Number 13, January 1906, with three plates by Hugo Henneberg, four by Heinrich Kuhn, five by Hans Watzek; a Steichen poster for the Photo-Secession; text by F. Mathies-Masuren, Kuhn, Watzek, Charles Caffin, F.H. Evans, Kerfoot, and others.
-Number 14, April 1906, with nine plates by Edward Steichen, four reproduced photographs by Stieglitz (on two plates) of exhibitions at 291, magnificent Steichen “Cover Design”; text by George Bernard Shaw, Kerfoot, and others.
-Special Steichen Supplement, April 1906, with sixteen plates by Steichen; text by Maurice Maeterlinck.
-Number 15, July 1906, with five plates by Alvin Langdon Coburn, one by Shaw, one by Steichen (his remarkable “Experiment in Three-Color Photography”), two by George Henry Seeley; text by Caffin, Roland Rood, Shaw, Kerfoot, and others.
-Number 16, October 1906, with seven plates by Robert Demachy, three by C. (Emile Joachim Constant) Puyo, two by René LeBégue; text by Demachy, Caffin, Kerfoot, and others.
On the recipient, J.B. Kerfoot:
Kerfoot was an associate editor and a major contributor to Camera Work. “Next to Hartmann, the most frequent contributors in the magazine’s first two pioneering years were Caffin, proofreader Dallett Fuguet, and columnist J.B. Kerfoot” (Sadarichi Hartmann, The Valiant Knights of Daguerre: Selected Critical Essays on Photography and Profiles of Photographic Pioneers).
Kerfoot was an important figure in Stieglitz’s career. In addition to being an important early collaborator, he later played a key role in helping Stieglitz obtain financial backing for Stieglitz’s famed Gallery 291. “Before opening the gallery I called in my friend, J.B. Kerfoot, a literary critic of Life, when the original Life was still in its hey-day... I hadn’t a cent of my own. My little capital I had blown in on the Photo-Secession and Camera Work and the like. I told Kerfoot I’d like to have a fund of twelve hundred dollars, five hundred to pay the rent, seven hundred dollars for light and printing and other overheard... So he invited George D. Pratt of the Standard Oil, who was interested in photography, and Herbert G. French, treasurer of Proctor and Gamble, who was a member of the Photo-Secession..., his brother-in-law, Hunter, a collector of rare Japanese prints and early American glass, a wealthy man, married but without children, and, naturally, Haviland and one or two other people. It was all very impromptu and unofficial...” (Alfred Stieglitz, Civil Liberties and the Arts: Selections from Twice a Year, 1938-48).
New York: Alfred Stieglitz, 1906. 5 complete issues, including works by Stieglitz, Kuehn, Steichen, Coburn, Seeley et al. Thick quarto, custom presentation binding of stamped suede (with “CW” on front cover) over boards, with original wrappers bound-in. Housed is spectacular custom box by noted book artist Sjoerd Hofstra. Occasional scattered foxing (mostly to tissue margins). Hinges tender, cloth cover partially detached at upper spine, minor wear to extremities. Plates in general in outstanding condition.
A SUPERB PRESENTATION VOLUME WITH MAGNIFICENT PHOTOGRAVURES.
Price: $45,000 .