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New
California Photography Book Published
The Foundation is pleased to announce the publication of a stunning
new book by our friends at the Windgate Press, Isaiah West Taber:
A Photographic Legacy 1870 – 1900. The handsome volume,
illustrated with 200 photographs, features the collection in
the State Library’s California History Section. Linda
and Wayne Bonnett of the Windgate Press wrote the text and designed
the book. It also includes an introduction by State Library
Special Collections Curator Gary F. Kurutz. The dust jacket
blurb states:
The name of Taber appeared in almost every California
portrait album of the nineteenth century. Today, Isaiah West
Taber is acknowledged as one of California’s outstanding
photographers. His work appears in museums, libraries, historical
collections, and is sought after by private collectors. Publisher
as well as photographer, Taber produced over 30,000 scenic
views of California and the West. Taber: A Photographic Legacy
combines photographs with the story of Isaiah Taber himself,
from his arrival in California during the gold rush, to the
San Francisco earthquake of 1906, when all his glass negatives
were lost.
Regarded as perhaps the most famous California photographer
of his day, Taber took or published some of the best images
we have of the Golden State during the nineteenth century. In
particular, his views of San Francisco are noteworthy for depicting
its astonishing growth. The State Library possesses hundreds
of his images ranging from individual portraits of famous Californians
to large folio albums documenting California business and industry,
the 1894 California Midwinter Fair, and Sutro Heights in San
Francisco.
Copies of Taber: A Photographic Legacy may be purchased through
the Foundation for $45 plus applicable sales tax and $5 for
shipping.
Mexican War Bibliography Available
The Foundation is pleased to announce the availability of an
important new publication: The Forgotten War: The Conflict between
Mexico and the United States, 1846-1849: A Bibliography of the
Holdings of the California State Library. Two hundred and seven
pages in length and extensively illustrated, the publication
features an extensive annotated bibliography by Dr. W. Michael
Mathes of the Spanish language material held by the Sutro Library
in San Francisco. Dr. Mathes is the Sutro Library's Honorary
Curator of Mexicana and a highly acclaimed authority on the
history of Mexico. His lucid commentary on the war and his descriptions
of dozens of books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, and manuscripts
represents the first detailed bibliography published in California
to emphasize the Mexican side. The publication is supplemented
by an annotated checklist of the Library's extensive collection
of nineteenth century English language books, pamphlets, manuscripts,
prints, and sheet music by Gary F. Kurutz, Curator of Special
Collections. The latter portion emphasizes the American viewpoint
and the conquest of Alta California. Five hundred copies have
been printed with a full-color paper binding.
The volume sells for $25.00 a copy plus sales tax and shipping. |
