Encyclopedias of 19th and 20th Century Photography, 5 Volumes

Encyclopedias of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photography

Edited by Lynne Warren and John Hannavy

Complete in 5 Volumes

FINE Condition

This Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource that scholars, students, and collectors can turn to for information on all aspects of photography in the nineteenth and twentieth century. From the accessible and engaging biographies to the comprehensive historical overviews, this work will appeal to all interested in photography. The books are in FINE condition with the most minimal of wear to the dust jackets. The following is a synopsis of the encyclopedias:

Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photograph – 2 Volumes (Each Volume Measures 11” x 8.75” x 3”) – Edited by John Hannavy 

Supported by an international board of advisors and contributors, editor John Hannavy has produced an impressive and authoritative resource encompassing the photographers, techniques, equipment, theories, literature, exhibitions, history, and organizations involved in photography during its early development. There are also regional and country overviews. Along with the alphabetical list of entries, entries are grouped into 12 thematic areas: “Companies,” “Formats,” etc. Entry length ranges “from shorter 200 word entries that provide snapshots of photographic figures and other key elements of nineteenth century photography to large, 5,000 word entries that provide detailed, analytical scholarship.” Some 850 of the approximately 1,200 signed entries treat people—photographers, inventors, patrons, and critics. Many entries have see also and further-reading references. Both volumes contain the detailed 64-page index. Illustrations are few and far between but do include unique, seldom-seen images. This is wonderful set to browse as well as to search for information on the obscure as well as the famous photographers of the period. Information sometimes refers back to photography’s predecessors and forward to lives that extended into the twentieth century. The wealth of information found here, and in no comparable work, will be used by photographers (including instructors, experimenters, and students); historians of art, science, and technology; genealogists studying old family images; and interested general readers for many years to come.

From the Publisher: “The great majority of the 1,197 entries in this reference are biographies, with the lives of critics, inventors, and patrons included alongside those of photographers. Other entries describe the photomechanical and negative processes employed in the 19th century, as well as technical matters and discussion of equipment such as darkrooms, lenses, and cameras. The themes of 19th-century photography are also featured in individual entries, including documentary, ethnography, genre, several entries on history (by decade), landscape, perspective, and still life. The volumes' authors provide scholarly, thoughtful entries that will be of use to undergraduate students and the interested general reader. There are some b&w plates, but the focus of the work is on the history, uses, and larger social context of the first century of this ubiquitous medium rather than a stylistic survey. This two-volume work accompanies the three-volume Encyclopedia of twentieth-century photography by the same publisher.”

Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Photograph – 3 Volumes (Each Volume Measures 11” x 9” x 4”) – Edited by Lynne Warren

This impressive reference work contains a wealth of information on a medium that became an art form in the 20th century. The many biographical entries briefly describe the photographer's life, education, and influences then discuss his or her oeuvre, placing it in the context of photography being produced in the same era and place. Each biographical entry is followed by a chronology and lists of individual exhibitions, selected group exhibitions, selected works, and further reading. A full-page b&w reproduction of one of the photographer's photos accompanies some of the entries; each volume also contains a small group of color plates. Entries are also included on technical aspects of photography, different types of photography, significant galleries and collections, and broadly conceived entries on the trends and traditions of photography in all the geographical areas of the world. Several lengthy entries are devoted to eras in the history of 20th-century photography. Each volume contains a glossary and a comprehensive index concludes volume 3.

From the Publisher: “Photography is an international cultural form, practice, and profession. Encompassing art, advertising, journalism, fashion, commercial, political, and everyday photography, the field of photography also includes chemical processes, mechanical inventions, equipment, industries, movements, techniques, terms and concepts. In addition, photography has a considerable presence in public forums of all kinds, such as museums, archives, galleries, and publications.

The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography brings together this rich history in three volumes. It explores the vast international scope of twentieth-century photography and explains that history with a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary manner. This unique approach covers the aesthetic history of photography as an evolving art and documentary form, while also recognizing it as a developing technology and cultural force. This three volume Encyclopedia presents the important developments, movements, photographers, photographic institutions, and theoretical aspects of the field along with information about equipment, techniques, and practical applications of photography. To bring this history alive for the reader, the set is illustrated in black and white throughout, and each volume contains a color plate section. A useful glossary of terms is also included.

The entries in this A-Z reference work range from 1000 to 5000 words fall into six categories:

Person entries: important photographers, critics, curators, collectors, theorists, and other individuals whose contribution to photography and understanding of photography is exemplary. Entries include: Diane Arbus, Roland Barthes, John Berger, Chuck Close, Hiroshi Hamaya, Lorna Simpson, Susan Sontag, Edward Weston, Minor White

Institutions, Galleries, and Collections entries: international venues, schools, and private and corporate collections such as the Australian Centre for Photography; Bauhaus; Farm Security Administration; the Museum of Modern Art (New York); the Royal Photographic Society; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography

Topics and term entries: topics, genres, techniques, concepts, theory, schools of thought, and movements. Entries include: appropriation; artist's books; constructed reality; contrast; lighting; pictorialism; propaganda; vernacular photography

Equipment entries: equipment that is fundamental to photography and deserving of longer, more detailed discussion than is given in the glossary, such as cable release; camera: 35 mm; camera: pinhole; darkroom; film; light meter

History and Region entries: overview entries and long survey entries on regions in which important techniques and practices in photography have emerged. Entries include: History of Photography: Nineteenth-Century Foundations; Photography in Africa: Overview; Photography in China and Taiwan; Photography in Europe: Germany and Austria; Photography in Japan; Photography in the United States: the South

Periodical and publisher entries: important periodicals and fine arts publishers of photography such as Afterimage; Condé Nast; Drum; Fine Arts Presses; Life; Periodicals: Professional; Popular Photography”

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Photographs of each of the books appear below. Please note that although the thumbnails may appear digitized, you can view the photograph in the photo viewer by clicking on the thumbnail.