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3 OLD CYANOTYPE PHOTOGRAPHS HUDSON RIVER STEAMER & PIER
The cyanotype was actually invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. Instead of relying on the light sensitivity of silver, cyanotypes are produced by light sensitive iron salts. Cyanotype prints have no emulsion; the light-sensitive iron salts have been infused into the paper fibers, unlike either albumen or gelatin silver prints. Cyanotypes were far simpler and les expensive to produce, which made them a favorite method for turn-of-the-century amateurs who wanted to make proofs of their negatives.
Offered here are 3 interesting examples of this rather rare Cyanotype photographic process. Each has typed identification and was probably taken by the same unknown party, as follows:
--Rather rare & unusual OVAL cyanotype on white paper 3.25 x 4.25” with typed identification on reverse: “STEAMER MARY POWELL, QUEEN OF THE HUDSON RIVER, FASTEST BOAT ON RIVER.” Excellent example of the cyanotype process used for an important & aesthetically pleasing subject. Good condition as shown in scan.
--Cyanotype 3.25 x 4.25” with typed identification on reverse: “VIEW OF INTERIOR OF PIER 59TH ST., AND HUDSON RIVER LOOKING TOWARD THE RIVER END.” Also quite an interesting subject, and likely related to the previous photo. Good condition as shown in scan.
--Cyanotype 3.5 x 5” with typed identification on the FRONT of the photo: “REFORM SCHOOL BOYS’ BRASS BAND.” Image has several rather severe brown spots of damage (see scan). Otherwise good condition.
Scan shows the three photos (and reverse of two) and enlarged details.
“They Loved the Mary Powell by Carl Carmer.
The Hudson valley loved the Mary Powell. "She was a lovely boat," they say. "Her bell had a silver tongue. Her whistle was a golden sound." Absalom Anderson planned her in 1861 and she was built by Michael Allison in Jersey City. From the hour she came off the ways she was the river queen … She was the fastest on the river--and the smoothest. They claim he [Captain Anderson] mixed whale’s grease into her paint to give her easy sliding through the water. And once in a river barroom I heard some poet say, "He hitched her to a porpoise four-in-hand." She steamed away from Kingston in the morning. By noon she moored below New York’s high towers. At three she took the tide again …
The Mary Powell never had a major accident. She never lost a passenger. She carried fathers from hot labor in the city to cool riverside homes where their families waited. She was a honeymoon boat, she was a children’s boat. She carried young boys to West Point and she returned them officers in the United States Army. Once, in a coffin wrapped with a flag, she brought the long BODY OF GEORGE CUSTER TO WEST POINT. The Indians of the western plains at last had won his yellow hair…
"You could depend upon the Mary Powell," the river families say. "She was always on time.” They laugh and say the Military Academy used to time its formations by the sound of her bell because it was always nearer right than the West Point clocks…
When Absalom Anderson died, his son, Captain A. E. Anderson, carried on the tradition. Gracefully the Mary Powell grew old and he aged with her. Before her nearly sixty years were over she was known and loved not only in America, but in all countries of the world whose citizens had visited the banks of the Hudson. She ended her career peacefully, faithfully, on the Day Line run … "She is a complete and lovely image in thousands of memories. "She had a silver tongue," they say. "She had a golden throat."
Price= $75.00
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