Author: Karl Bodmer:
Title: Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America [Missouri River Expedition].
Description: [Not Published, circa 1890]. This is a portfolio of 48 plates, which appear to have been reproduced by photography from Karl Bodmer's illustrations to Maximilian of Wied's Travels in the Interior of North America (originally published in 1839). The photographs vary in size, but typically measure about 25cm by 18cm, and all have been mounted on large pieces of card (each card measures 50cm by 35cm). The plates are housed in a custom-made portfolio case, with a brown morocco spine and marbled boards. The spine and edges of the case are rubbed and scuffed, else condition is very good. Included in this set is a rather blurred reproduction of the map of the Missouri Basin that accompanied the original edition. This is something of a curio, and difficult to date. I have estimated a date of 1890 from the style of the portfolio case. The camera used to make the reproductions appears to have had a scratch on the lens, as all the plates have a short white line in approximately the same place. Limitations of photography at the time mean that these reproductions do not possess the fine line of the original aquatints. Each plate has a caption written in ink (in German) on the card mount, underneath the photograph. An odd and perhaps unique production.

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