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Views on the Mississippi The Photographs of Henry Peter Bosse Mark Neuzil SPECIAL FEATURES: |
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$50.00 Cloth/jacket |
A publishing event—the first comprehensive collection of photographs by the foremost nineteenth-century photographer of the Mississippi River. As mapmaker and photographer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Henry Peter Bosse (1844-1903) took more than three hundred photographs of the Upper Mississippi River from 1883 to 1893, a time of unprecedented environmental and social change. Now recognized as the leading photographer of his time of the Mississippi, his work was almost unknown until five separate volumes of his photographs were discovered during the past few years. Since then, Bosse's work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian and other national museums and sold by leading auction houses to private collectors around the world. Views on the Mississippi brings together for the first time almost one hundred of Bosse's most stunning images. These photographs—tracing the river from Minneapolis to St. Louis—capture the Mississippi as it was being transformed from an untamed natural wonder to a modern commercial highway. Presenting the wagon and railroad bridges, the towns and villages along the banks, and the steamboats that served them, Bosse's images depict the river at the fulcrum between the nostalgic era recorded by Mark Twain and the coming century of industrial development and environmental change, including the alterations wrought by the navigation projects of the Army Corps. Bosse used the cyanotype process, which produced large-format photographs in crisp, vivid blue tones. This volume offers high quality reproduction with new captions providing the location and significance of each image, as well as historical context. Also included here is a detailed reproduction of Bosse's rare landmark map of the river, first published in 1887-88, giving the reader with a fascinating guide to the historic Upper Mississippi. Views on the Mississippi is certain to delight and surprise those interested in nineteenth-century America, life on the Mississippi River, the environment, and fine photography everywhere. "Views on the Mississippi transports readers back more than 100 years and puts them behind the camera of a photographer and mapmaker whose work is recognized around the world. This handsome book collects almost 100 photos taken from 1883 to 1893 of the upper Mississippi, from Minneapolis to St. Louis. The photos-of the river, its bridges, towns, bluffs, barges and boats-provide a view of the river during its early development a major commercial highway and recreation area. Many of the photos, reproduced in the blue tones of the cyanotype process Bosse used, are taken from bluffs and provide marvelous vistas of the breadth and sweep of the river-views that helped Bosse in his mapmaking efforts." —Minneapolis Star Tribune "Views on the Mississippi bears reading and looking and rereading again. Beautifully put-together and a bargain in its immensity." —Dave Wood's Book Report "Mark Neuzil has assembled a stunning array of 19th century photos that illustrate how locks and dams later changed the Mississippi River. Neuzil stumbled upon the blueish cyanotype photos made by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map-maker Henry Bosse while researching another topic. He could not pass up the chance to give readers a lesson in river history, biology, urban planning, engineering and industry." —Des Moines Register "Views on the Mississippi: The Photographs of Henry Peter Bosse opens a window on the great river before its face was changed by America's industrial boom and navigation construction projects. It is part travelogue, part history, part a collection of works of art. The photos reveal wagon and railroad bridges, early river towns, beautiful bluffs and steamboats." —William Allen, St. Louis Post-Dispatch “If you are looking for a general introduction to the history of the upper river, Neuzil’s compilation is one of the most entertaining ways to begin.” —Big Muddy “This book will interest environmentalists, river buffs, and collectors of photographic history. It finally makes Bosse’s unusual and beautiful photographs widely available.” —Gateway Heritage, Missouri Historical Society “ A well-written supporting history by Mark Neuzil will inspire readers to take the book and try to find the places where Bosse sets up his tripod. Like the river, this book takes some time to appreciate, but it is well worth the effort.” —Minnesota History“Bosse’s photographs deserve to be known by ever scholar, educator and interpretive program on the upper Mississippi, and Neuzil’s book is an excellent vehicle for their dissemination.” —The Annals of Iowa “ An invaluable record of the river. A fascinating introduction to one of the pioneers of American photography when photography’s roles as artistic expression and scientific tool coexisted without contradiction.” —History of Photography “Here, in this remarkable book, are stunning images of the upper Mississippi, taken at a time of unprecedented environmental and social change.” —The Evening News Mark Neuzil is associate professor of journalism and mass communication and environmental studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Henry Peter Bosse (1844-1903), a German immigrant and grandson of a great Prussian war hero, worked as a mapmaker and photographer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1874 until his death. 272 pages | 95 cyanotype photographs, 36 illustrations | 11 x 9 | 2001 |
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$29.95 Paper [an error occurred while processing this directive]