Opening day of the Suez Canal. Port Said , Nov. 16, 1869

This photograph depicts the harbor and canal on the day of the opening of the Suez Canal, the “greatest engineering feat of the nineteenth century” (Smith). “Clearly, the canal’s opening festivities placed Egypt in a new way on the European cultural map” (Haddad, “Digging to India: Modernity, Imperialism, and the Suez Canal”).

$8,500

Early Photography of China Collection: A highly important collection in development.. Various places, 1850s-1930s

The most valuable collection of early China photography in private hands, the Early Photography of China Collection includes the greatest masterworks of China photography by the foremost photographers working in China in the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the 20th century. The collection has been assembled over the course of many years, and we continue to expand and refine it as worthy photographs and archives become available. This collection, unrivaled in quality and extent in private hands, provides a unique opportunity to own one of the greatest collections of Chinese photography extant. We are eager to acquire important China photographs, from individual objects to albums and collections. We invite you to contact us.

Collection in development

King of Siam’s State Barge. Bangkok, c. 1865

This is a magnificent two-panel view of the king’s barge on the water, with dozens of oarsmen ready to put their paddles in to the water. The king’s ornate covered throne is at the rear of the vessel. The riverbank in the background is crowded with low thatched roof buildings.

$15,000

Photographs of the Holy Land and Egypt comprising: [I:] Sinai and Palestine; [II:] Lower Egypt, Thebes, and the Pyramids; [III:] Upper Egypt and Ethiopia; [IV:] Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. Supplementary Volume.. London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh:  William MacKenzie, [1863].

$72,000

Liberty’s Torch in Madison Square Park. no publisher, negative ca. 1876, made from a print, late 19th century.

The torch of the Statue of Liberty was exhibited in Madison Square Park, New York to raise funds for the statue’s completion.  The torch remained in the park from 1876 through 1882.

$1,800

The Supreme Court. Washington, D.C.: Ed Clark, 1956

Completed in 1935, the magnificent neoclassical Supreme Court Building features the motto “Equal Justice Under the Law” on the west facade. This splendid, enormous color photograph was taken by famed LIFE magazine photographer Ed Clark: “Black Church Leaders pray on the Supreme Court steps for integration to succeed” (Herrera, Frank, Ed Clark: Decades).

$2,200

Angkor Wat. Angkor, c. 1866-1873

A splendid view of Angkor Wat with deep, rich tones. Émile Gsell accompanied de Lagrée on his expedition to Angkor, where he made a series of dramatic photographs only a few months after John Thomson’s expedition. The French photographer Gsell became the first commercial photographer based in Saigon in 1866. He returned to Angkor in 1873 with the famous expedition led by Louis Delaporte.

$2,200

The Vermont State House. Vermont, [c. 1859]

A fine salt print of the Vermont State House.

$7,000

Panoramic view of Washington, D.C., with the Capitol dominating the scene in the distance. Washington, c. 1877-1882

This magnificent mammoth plate panorama shows the National Mall and the Capitol as seen from the Smithsonian Castle.

$12,000

Collection of Ten Photographs from Mooney’s Pioneering Investigations of the Ghost Dance and Other Native American Circle Dances. Various places, c. 1892-93

The rare and important collection documents the famous Ghost Dance and related circle dances soon after Wounded Knee. The collection testifies to the tragic demise of the Native American spiritual and cultural practices during the tumultuous Ghost Dance period. These photographs were taken by James Mooney (1861-1921), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. He left Washington in late 1890 to investigate the potentially incendiary Ghost Dance movement. Mooney’s rare portrait of Wovoka is one highlight of the collection. Mooney’s Ghost Dance photographs are of the greatest rarity in the market. We can trace no others having appeared for sale.

$20,000