Bits of Nature: A Series of Ten Photogravures from Nature

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PhotographersW.I. Lincoln Adams, Mrs. Nathan Appleton, John Dumont, Ezra P. Griswold, William Henry Jackson, Henry G. Peabody, William James Stillman, Unknown, Dr. S.B. Ward

CountryUnited States, Unknown

MediumCardstock, Letterpress, Photogravure: Text

VolumeBits of Nature: A Series of Ten Photogravures from Nature

AtelierNims & Knight (Troy, N.Y.), N.Y. Photogravure Company (New York City)

Year1889

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Due to the nature of the translucency of these tissue gravures and the mild reality of slight age-toning to the plate leaf supports, we have endeavored to be as accurate as possible in their presentation with an emphasis on color accuracy. Plate pagination for this volume, as well as all material (grouped as volumes, portfolios, journals, etc.) found on PhotoSeed, follows in the original order in which it is collated specific to the individual work.

Volume Particulars

Bits of Nature: A Series of Ten Photogravures from Nature was the second and final album of photogravures issued under the Bits of Nature title by Ernest Edward’s New York Photogravure Company in 1889. It was further titled as the Second Series, and published like the First Series album of 1888 (Bits of Nature: Ten Studies in Photo-Gravure, No. 1. ) by publisher Nims & Knight of Troy, New York. Ten delicate Japan tissue photogravure plates, one to a page, are included in the album printed by Edwards’ firm. Many of these photographs were previously and subsequently published as photogravures and photogelatine (collotype) plates in Edwards’ periodical Sun & Shade. Only one plate in this album carries a photographic credit, for William James Stillman’s landscape with two children titled A Country Stream, the first plate in the album pagination. The last plate, a Mexican landscape titled Yucatan, can be deciphered as being the work of the famous American photographer William Henry Jackson, as his credit: W.H. Jackson & Co., Denver CO. and original title of the work: A Glimpse of Guanajuato, Mexico, is etched within the lower plate margin. We have tracked down most of the photographers for these plates however, and list them with this online presentation. The following description for Bits of Nature came out in the fall of 1889:

Bits of Nature. Second Series.
Ten new studies of natural scenery, from original photographs. Printed from photogravure plates on Japan paper and mounted on boards, size, 10 x 12. Bound in cartridge board, and tied with ribbon, $1.50. 1.

1. Nims & Knight’s Fall Announcements, 1889: in: The Publishers’ Weekly: New York: Sept. 21, 1889: p. 423