Newsletter readers can now see a special End-of-the-Year Holiday sale on I Photo Central brought to you by all five of the website's photography dealers. These items are available at special sale prices (from 20 to over 60% off the regular list price) for just one month, from now until December 15th. Many of the items' regular list prices were reduced earlier, so the actual net reductions may be well over 40% to 80% in many instances. These are all final prices, so no other discounts apply. Shipping/insurance may also be added.

There are some great deals, so check them out soon at: http://www.iphotocentral.com/sale/sale.php .

If you want to do further sorts on the sale list, you can go to the Search Images page at http://www.iphotocentral.com/search/search.php and put EndofYearSale1 into the key word field. Then you can also use the other search fields, such as price range, country, date range, etc. When you have all your choices made, simply hit the Search button (not the Show All Images button). When you put in the key word, you must have the capital letters in properly and no space between the words or the number "1". Also make sure you do not have any extra space after the key word. This way if you are bargain hunting, you can put in a range from $1 to $500, or if you want to focus on the top end, just put in a range from $1000 (or $5000) to No Limit.

To introduce a new feature on the website, a number of photography dealers on I Photo Central are also running a special Book Sale offer on most of the new books we have posted up on line at a 20% discount price. You will also save shipping costs if you order $250 or more per dealer.

Now on the site there are some of the rarest and most sought-after books and portfolios, including Henri Cartier-Bresson's two magnus opuses (The Decisive Moment and Les Europeens); dozens of signed books from leading photographers (such Eggleston, Kertesz, Friedlander, Sudek, Avedon, Lyon, Teske, Clark, Sturges, Weston, Bernhard, Davidson, Witkin, Shibata, Siskind, Warhol, Michals, Doyle, Levinson, Fee, Webb and others); and some of the hardest to find incunabula from the earliest days of photography, for instance, the collected papers presented at the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1839 announcing the invention of photography, including the famous report by Arrago, a 19th-century reproduction of the correspondence between Daguerre and Niepce, and a Rare 1851 First Volume of the influential Journal La Lumiere--only about a dozen copies exist, most in French public institutions. Also included are photo-illustrated books and portfolios, such as Peter Henry Emerson's "The Compleat Angler" and "Wild Life on a Tidal Water", plus many modern portfolios and books with prints.

Of course, there are also many other very low priced photography books listed on the site that can fill in your library or make great holiday presents. And many more books will be added to the list over the next month (and beyond), so keep checking back.

The Book Sale can be found at: http://www.iphotocentral.com/sale/result_list.php/32/Booksale1/0 .

While the books can be searched on the regular Search pages with the drop-down menu on media (just select "books"), we expect to soon have an entirely separate photography bookstore--the first such multi-dealer version on the web.

I encourage bookstores with a photography orientation to contact me at 1-215-822-5662 for details on how to join I Photo Central and put inventory into this new internet resource. And I encourage our newsletter readers to go and see the many rare photography books currently on sale on the site. Many are rare first editioned and signed copies. Others will make great additions to any research library.
 

On December 1st, more than 500 works of historic, classic and modern photography will be auctioned at Van Ham Fine Art Auctions in Cologne.

The works of famous German and international photographers of 19th through the 21st century will be on offer, including Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Éduard Baldus, Cecil Beaton, Monika von Boch, Brassaï, Julia Margaret Cameron, Giacomo Caneva, Lee Friedlander, Ron Galella, Gustave Le Gray, F.C. Gundlach, Hill & Adamson, Peter Keetman, Fritz Kühn, Robert McPherson, Walter Niedermayr, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Tata Ronkholz, Jaroslav Rössler, August Sander, Jörg Sasse, Karl Hugo Schmölz, Toni Schneiders, Steven Shore, Beat Streuli, Josef Sudek, Ludwig Windstosser and Piet Zwaart.

One highlight of the upcoming fall auction is 19th-century photography, especially images with roman architecture and landscape scenes from the mid 1800s. Included are two rare salt prints by Giacomo Caneva (Lot 78 & 79, estimate: €1.200) as well as a large-format view on Tivoli by Robert McPherson (Lot 248, estimate: €2.000). One architecture photograph dating from the 1860s is by Charles Marville (Lot 259, estimate: €1.200). One large-format original print by the photographer Gustave Le Gray, depicting Tour St. Jacques in Paris, is estimated €3.000 (Lot 148). Fritz Kühn is represented with a beautiful still life (Lot 227, estimate: €5.000).

Traditionally Van Ham Fine Art Auctions offers a wide range of photographs from the 1920s to the 1960s. The oeuvre of Albert Renger-Patzsch is represented by a number of original prints stemming from several creative phases of the artist; from early flora and landscape themes and rare works depicting the Ore Mountains, up to his later works (Lot 301-317, estimates up to €3.800). Interesting are also the nature studies of Alfred Ehrhardt (Lot 104-108, estimates up to €1.000). Amongst the original prints of the Cologne photographer August Sander are a series of portraits from the 1910/20s set in the Western Woods (Lot 348-359, estimates: €800-€2.400). An outstanding piece by August Sander is a unique 1940-reproduction of an original photomontage (Lot 355, estimate: €9.000). Excellent architectural images of the 1950s by the Fotowerkstätte Hugo Schmölz (Lot 382-399, estimate up to €1.300) are also included in the sale.

The Gruppe 'fotoform' is represented with works by Peter Keetman (Lot 198-202, estimates: €2.000-€3.600), including several large-format original prints from his first series on the VW-works (Lot 203-207, estimates up to €2.400). Significant works by Toni Schneiders (Lot 401-406, estimates: €1.600-€2.000) and Ludwig Windstosser (Lot 481-487, estimates €1.400-€2.200) are also offered. Just as notable is the series of original prints by the photographer Heinrich Riebesehl (Lot 321-330, estimates €2.000-€2.400). Special emphasis should be given to the impressive black and white prints from the 1970/1980s by the Becher student Tata Ronkholz. Ronkholz is represented by several works from the series "Trinkhallen", "Schaufenster" and "Industrietore", which are offered with an estimate beginning at €1.200).

Among the auction lots are also a wide range of works by international photographers. Two impressive portraits by Diane Arbus (Lot 13 & 14) are estimated respectively at €8.000 and €9.000. One of the sale's highlights is a large-format gelatine silver print by Ansel Adams dating from the 1950s (Lot 7, estimate: €32.000). Also not to be missed are a vintage print by Brassaï (Lot 65, estimate: €5.000) and several original prints by Cecil Beaton (Lot 26-29, estimates €1.200-€2.800). One later print of "Kismet and Mirror" by the photographer Bill Brandt (Lot 64) is estimated €6.000. The oeuvre of the American photo artist Lee Friedlander is represented by three impressive works (Lot 122-124, estimate each €4.000). Two portrait studies by Man Ray (Lot 254-255) dating from 1941 are each estimated at €1.200.

Similar to the last sale, Van Ham is once again auctioning off a wide range of contemporary photography. This contemporary work includes large-format works by Laurenz Berges (Lot 36-42, estimates €1.200-€7.000), decorative still lifes by Claus Goedicke (Lot 139-141, estimates €1.800-€3.800) and very early icons by Jörg Sasse (Lot 360-367, estimates €1.800-€ 5.000).

International contemporary artists in the sale include Miriam Bäckström (Lot 17 & 18, estimates each €3.000), Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Lot 95-97, estimates each €12.000), Nan Goldin (Lot 143-145, estimates €6.000-€8.000) and Beat Streuli (Lot 426-429, estimates €9.000-€ 9.500).

The auction will be held on December 1st at 4 pm at Van Ham Fine Art Auctions, Schoenhauser Str. 10-16, 50968 Cologne, Germany, tel.: +49-(0)221-92-58-62-0 (from the U.S. dial 011 then the number without the zero in parentheses). The preview will be held from 11/24-11/30, M-F, 10am- pm; 11/25, Sa, 10am-4pm; 11/26, Su, 11am-4pm. For further information, email, Markus Eisenbeis, Van Ham's expert at: vm.eisenbeis@van-ham.com or call him at +49 (0)221-92-58-62-13. The online catalogue of the auction can be found at http://www.van-ham.com .
 

I will attend Art Basel Miami and Photo Miami from December 6-9. If you will be attending any of the shows, please give me a call at 1-215-822-5662 now to set up an appointment to discuss or view any of Vintage Works, Ltd.'s images or if you would like my help down at the shows.

If you want me to bring any specific pieces, you must call our office by or before December 5th. Or you can reach me on my mobile once I am down in Miami Beach at 1-215-518-6962. To email me directly while I am away from my office, send your email to anovak@iphotocentral.com . I will be staying at the Atlantic Oceanfront Hotel at 4101 Collins Ave. (at 41st St.), Miami Beach, FL.
 

By Matt Damsker

NEW YORK: 365 DAYS FROM THE PHOTO ARCHIVES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Introduction by Gay Talese. Photo editors: Jim Mones and Vin Alabiso. 736 pages; 365 photos; hardback; US $29.95, CAN $38.95. ISBN No. 978-0-8109-4942-3. Published by Harry N. Abrams, 115 West 18th St., New York NY 10011; information: http://www.hnabooks.com .

There are more than seven million photographs in the archives of The New York Times, but this relative handful of shots makes the case well enough for the tradition of great photojournalism in America's greatest city. From the low-key 1911 image of Wilbur Wright flying one of the first airplanes in range of the Statue of Liberty, to the explosive and dramatically charged sequence that chronicles the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the power and grandeur of Manhattan's iconography is the theme that unites these 365 images.

Walls, bridges, skyscrapers, crowds, walkers, riders, paraders, panhandlers, street vendors, the famous (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Rudolph Giuliani), the infamous (prostitutes on Times Square, before its clean-up in the 1980s) and the unnameable make up the mosaic. And it is not surprising that so many of the shots of everyday life taken by New York Times photographers possess an abstract power--such as Fred Conrad's 2003 shot of a red umbrella adding a single drop of color to a snowy landscape in Madison Square Park, Tony Cenicola's shot of phantasmagoric graffiti murals transforming the walls in the borough of Queens, or Marilynn K. Yee's liquid image of yellow taxis in Columbus Circle, as reflected in the mirrored skin of the Time Warner Center. Indeed, these photographs and so many others continue to reveal "The City" as the ultimate canvas for expression, random action, folly, fear and aspiration. The editors of this volume do a good job selecting a cross-section that emphasizes the infinite variety of New York life and New York looks--the pastoral four-season beauty of Central Park or the Botanical Garden, the scale and energy of the architecture, the sophistication of its high and low players, and the palpable collective will that makes this sliver of land a center of civilization.


EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE COLLECTION OF
RICHARD AVEDON.
Edited by Jeffrey Fraenkel. Published by the Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA, on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name, which continues through November 25, 2006. In five volumes; paperback; approximately 80 photographs. ISBN No. 978-1-881337-21-8. Information: Fraenkel Gallery, 49 Geary St., San Francisco, CA 94108; phone: +1-415-981-2661; http://www.fraenkelgallery.com .

Richard Avedon was always busier making his own pictures than collecting the photography of others, but his obsession with and respect for the medium inevitably led him to amass a worthy and eclectic collection over the course of 50 years. This exhibition, which began this fall at New York's Pace/MacGill Gallery before moving to the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, emphasizes the rich variety and vintage of Avedon's collection.

As Jeffrey Fraenkel points out, Avedon bought most of these photos, while some were gifts and bear inscriptions of great respect from the likes of Lartigue and Cartier-Bresson. Significantly, Avedon was the first collector to purchase Diane Arbus's 1970 "A Box of Ten Photographs," which meant so much to Arbus that she retitled Avedon's portfolio to include an eleventh print (taken at a Halloween party for mentally retarded women). The Arbus photos--including the famed images of identical twins, Mexican dwarf Lauro Morales, a young man in hair curlers, and the piercingly strange photo of a tattooed man at a carnival--have their parallels in Avedon's own fine-art work, of course, and comprise one of five slim volumes assembled by Fraenkel to set Avedon's collection in sharp relief.

The other four volumes include what Fraenkel cites as the most important collection of 18 portraits of the Countess de Castiglione (by Pierre-Louis Pierson), considered the most beautiful woman of her day. Shot mainly in the 1860s, these are among photography's earliest and most evocative celebrity portraits, remarkable studies of the female mystique (and feminine vanity) that still haunt us with the force and hauteur of the Countess's personality.

Then there are the austere portraits of Peter Hujar, from the 1970s; a series of Irving Penn's 1975 photographs of cigarettes; and, finally, a volume of "Etcetera," ranging from 19th-century ephemera to Helmut Newton and Joel-Peter Witkin. Avedon's collection seems to reflect both his own rigorousness and approach to photography--the frequent emphasis on foursquare frontality, and a search for the sitters' psyches not through the faces they put on for the world, but rather through the evidence of what time and the world has done to those faces. Ironically, this is perfectly expressed in Penn's close-ups of the cigarette butts, which become stand-ins for a worn-and-torn humanity. Avedon must have loved those photographs especially.


CATALOGUES OF VINTAGE 19TH AND 20TH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS

From Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books in London, "The East Indies" catalogues rare travel photographs from the 19th century in more than 100 pages, all photos well-represented in good size and with generous annotations. From Afghanistan through Russia, Ceylon, India, Burma, Vietnam, Sumatra, the islands of Fiji and Samoa, to China, these photos should be of interest to the serious collector. Randolph Holmes's panoramic images of the Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 are especially notable, along with more familiar prints of India's landscape and architecture by Felice Beato, Samuel Bourne and others (India gets the lion share of pages, with nearly 100 offerings). Information: Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books, 32 Saint George St., London W1S 2EA; phone +44 (0)20 7493 0867l; fax: +44 (0)20 7229 7860l; email: roland@shapero.com ; http://www.shapero.com .

From antiquarian bookseller Charles B. Wood III, Catalogue 126 of "Nineteenth Century Photography" delineates illustrated books, albums, catalogues, and technical manuals. The offerings are generally intriguing, including what Wood describes as the first American book illustrated with a photograph ("Homes of American Statesmen," 1854, G.P. Putnam & Co.), and the only British book to be illustrated after daguerreotypes (Alexander Keith's 1848 "Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion," William Whyte & Co.). The catalogue is print-heavy, with relatively few examples of the photography it describes, but the range and depth of 19th-century work held by Wood is evident. This catalogue is offered at $10 per copy, refundable against purchase. Information: Charles B Wood III, P.O. Box 2369, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA; phone: +617 868 1711; fax +617 868 2960; email: cbw@world.std.com ; charles@cbwoodbooks.com ; http://www.cbwoodbooks.com .

And from Librairie Alain Brieux in Paris, "Promenades Photographiques 1760-1942" offers 41 examples of continental photography, including albums and various books. The premier curiosity is a rare work from 1760: the first and only edition of "Giphante" by a Utopian (Charles-Francois Tiphaigne de la Roche), in which a surprising premonitory description of the technique of photography is found (a fleeting image is fixed on a piece of fabric using light rays and a coating of some liquid chemical). From there, 19th-century examples include the first medical book with original photographs (Duchenne de Boulogne's photos of patients stimulated by electricity, from 1862) and rare editions of Roentgen's pamphlets announcing the discovery of the X-ray. Information: Librairie Alain Brieux, 48, rue Jacob 75006 Paris, France; phone: +33-(0)1 42 60 21 98; fax: +33-(0)1 42 60 55 24; email: alain.brieux@wanadoo.fr .


Matt Damsker is an author and critic, who has written about photography and the arts for the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Philadelphia Bulletin, Rolling Stone magazine and other publications. His book, "Rock Voices", was published in 1981 by St. Martin's Press. His essay in the book, "Marcus Doyle: Night Vision" was published this past November.

(Book publishers, authors and photography galleries/dealers may send review copies to us at: I Photo Central, 258 Inverness Circle, Chalfont, PA 18914. We do not guarantee that we will review all books or catalogues that we receive.)

By the way, to see all of our past book reviews, go to: http://www.iphotocentral.com/collecting/collecting.php and scroll down the page to Photography Book Reviews.
 

Charles Schwartz, Ltd. has put up a new Special Exhibit on I Photo Central on images of U.S. Steel's plants and facilities at http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase_view.php/105/3/1 .

U.S. Steel was--and in many ways still is--an industrial super-power, and these images are testament to its glory. They were taken in the 1940s and 1950s when the company was in its prime (with more than 35 plants and facilities and 350,000 workers). Innovation and optimism were industrial watchwords of the time.

These images are the fruits of a vast project, conducted and commissioned by U.S. Steel itself, that effectively documents the company's mind-boggling array operations--it has an incomparable sweep and historical value (and only a small sampling is represented here). Many well-respected lensmen gave their talents to this project, including Russell Aikins, who worked for Fortune magazine, and Fritz Henle, who is represented in major museums (and whose works sell for upwards of $5,000). To a man, they rise above their purely documentary commission, incorporating aesthetic elements both dramatic and subtle. Dark lattice works of coils and scaffolds are framed and cropped against bright skies. Blast furnace towers pictured from below take on a monumental grandeur. Not to be missed is the undeniably sculptural presence of many of these vertical behemoths, their quiet merits all the more discernable, in our Post-modern, post-Bernd-and-Hilla-Becher era.

It is likely that U.S. steel didn't know, or care what photographic treasures it had reaped with this project. In this case, time was on their side.

Vintage Works, Ltd. has also added another three new Special Exhibits. The first of these Special Exhibits is entitled, "Surrealism and Experimental Photography", and it can be found at http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase_view.php/100/1/1 .

While, as one might suspect, most of the work comes from the fertile Between-the-Wars period, a number of images show the work of more current practitioners who continue to push the edge of photography.

Major names from that earlier period, such as Man Ray, Francois Kollar, Marta Hoeppfner, Arthur Siegel (as well as his brother Bernard), Jean Dreville, Barbara Morgan, Germaine Krull, Edmund Kesting, Geza Vandor and Georgi Zimin, are added to the later experimental photographers, such as Clarence John Laughlin, Marcel Marien, Joel-Peter Witkin, Jerry Uelsmann and Krzysztof Pruszkowski. Of course, many more such images can be found throughout the I Photo Central website, but the exhibition serves to spotlight some of the most interesting images.

Also new from Vintage Works is a Special Exhibit, entitled, "A Library of Rare Photography Books and Portfolios", which can be found at http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase_view.php/106/1/1 . This special selection of rare books spans the gamut from early and virtually never seen 19th-century documents to scarce and in-demand contemporary books and portfolios.

The range is quite astounding, comprised of the correspondence between Niepce and Daguerre about the invention of photography through several scarce volumes illustrating Andreas Gursky's contemporary photography.

Other 19th-century finds include the Collection du Journal La Lumiere (the Rare First Volume from 1851) originally owed by the important amateur photographer Edouard Delessert. It comes with perhaps a unique table of contents.

Important portfolios, such as Frantisek Drtikol's Ten Nudes in pigment process, the sought-after Czech "Fotografie 1928-58", a group of 17 early Microscopic Images, Petr Helbich's "Chvaly: Uvahy a Fotografie" and the very scarce "Man Ray et Ses Amis", are all in the selection. There are also four portfolios (platinum) and volumes from 21st Century Publishing, including Flor Garduño's "The Sonnets of Shakespeare", "Sally Mann", Eikoh Hosoe's "Flowers of Evil" (Les Fleurs du Mal), and Joel-Peter Witkins' Songs of Innocence.

Modern volumes include monographs by Josef Sudek (signed), Henri Cartier-Bresson (his most important monographs), Jame Fee (signed and with prints), William Eggleston (signed), Larry Clark (a signed copy of "Teenage Lust: An Autobiography"), Karl Blossfeldt, Andy Warhol (signed), Bruce Davidson (signed copy of Subway), Richard Avedon (signed copy of "Portraits"), Marcus Doyle (with signed print), Aaron Siskind (signed) and Danny Lyon (signed).

A third new Special Exhibit just listed by Vintage Works is entitled, "Susan McCartney: Having Fun, Observing Life", which can be found at http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase_view.php/103/1/0 . I recently had the pleasure to meet this talented photographer and was greatly enthused by her work, which I have featured here.

Susan McCartney has been taking pictures since the age of 12 and studied fine art and graphic design at the Hammersmith College of Art in London and the Cooper Union in New York. She refined her photography and vision at master classes given by legends Richard Avedon, Alexey Brodovitch, Harold Kreiger, Walter Rosenblum, Melvin Sokolsky and Henry Wolf. She has a degree in photography from the New York School of Visual Arts.

McCartney is better known for her brash color travel work, but these rare vintage black and white images of her adopted city and its inhabitants seem to reflect a sense of amazement, humor and gentle sympathy for her subjects that is rare. From the somberness of statuary in a Queens cemetary that she somehow imbues with life to the bizarre fake Santas on Houston Street to the loving images of her daughter growing up, McCartney takes it all in and with her photographs shares this unique vision with us all.

We have also continued to change images and add to our essays for all our Special Exhibits, so they are worth another peek, especially if you have not looked lately. And, if you see one you like, let a friend know too!

You can see these fine new exhibits and others (now a total of 61active Special Exhibits in all!) at: http://www.iphotocentral.com/showcase/showcase.php .

Don't forget to check out the archived exhibits at the bottom of the page as well. And remember that there are many fine essays on the various photographers and topics represented by these Special Exhibits, some of them the most complete any where in the English language (or any other language for that matter). The essays can be accessed by simply clicking on the "About this Photographer" or "About this Exhibit" at the top left corner of the Special Exhibit main page.
 

While the Photo Review Benefit Auction set a new record this year, a few lots did not meet their minimum reserves and were bought in. So once again the Photo Review is having a sealed bid auction of unsold lots from this year's auction.

If you would like to participate, you can view the auction and bid online at http://www.photoreview.org/auction.htm. Only the available lots are now posted. Bidding closes at 5 p.m. EST on December 15, 2006--so that your purchases can reach you in time for holiday gift giving. Alternatively, you can request a list of the remaining lots and their minimum prices.

The auction will also honor its "End This Auction" feature through the closing date: bid the high estimate and the auction ends immediately and the lot is yours.
 

Nearly 300 photographs and books have been added to I Photo Central over just the last month. To see them just click on http://www.iphotocentral.com/search/result_list.php/16/30/0 .

Important images have been added to the site by photographers Julia M. Cameron, Barbara Morgan, Ilse Bing, John Coplans, Mario Giacomelli, Josef Sudek, Max Waldman, F. Bedrich Grünzweig, Philippe Halsmann, Fritz Henle, Lisa Holden, Stanko Abadzic, Joel D. Levinson, Charlie Schreiner, Ted Jones, Fred Korth, Jan Lauschmann, Susan McCartney and Kenneth Snelson.

You can always go to the Search page on the I Photo Central website at http://www.iphotocentral.com/search/search.php and use the "Time Frame of Posting" drop down menu to get the most recent additions.