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An American Odyssey Hardcover – June 15, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Graphic designer, photographer, and collector Marc Walter specializes in vintage travel photographs, particularly photochroms, of which he has one of the world's largest collections. He has widely published books with images from his collection as well as his own photographs.
Sabine Arqué is a documentarian, iconographer, and author. She has collaborated on numerous books on the subjects of travel, the history of tourism and photography.
Sabine Arqué is a documentarian, iconographer, and author. She has collaborated on numerous books on the subjects of travel, the history of tourism and photography.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By
Grumpy Reader
on June 3, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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I've always liked old color postcards that I believed to be reproductions of hand-tinted photos. But as this book makes clear, these were actually examples of the earliest color photography, which gives the pictures the atmosphere of a dreamy surreal painting along with the exact accuracy of photographs. And I've always regretted that the postcards were so small. But now we can have them in this wonderful enormous size. The details are so fascinating that I want to study each photo for hours. What can I say? The pictures give me goose bumps. I love this book. It is worth every penny and more. In fact, just the photos of New York City or those of the American Indians would be worth the price.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By
JO
on June 2, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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My book finally arrived today, it is gigantic, I'm not sure how much it weighs but its box comes with a handle. The subject matter of the photos is interesting and there is some excellent photography here. Maybe I'm expecting too much but most all of the photos are grainy and not all of them are in color also, most of the pages up to number 100 are not separated at the top. I'm still deciding if I want to carefully cut them apart or if I will return the book hoping for one that was put together correctly or just return it for good. I feel like I would be happy if it was $60.00 but for twice that... I'm just not sure.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By
Cynthia R Miller
on July 17, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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I take issue with the statement made by Taschen (and used verbatim in this Amazon book listing) that these Photochroms are “the very first color photographs”. As explained by the Time-Life review of this book, ‘An American Odyssey’: Color Photos of the New World | LIFE.com [...], the color photolithographs are based on black-and-white photographs from glass plate negatives. In fact, the Detroit Photographic Company employed artists in their Detroit headquarters to hand-color the photographic prints, which were then photomechanically transferred onto multiple stone lithographic plates, using a color separation technique and a patented printing method developed by the Photoglob Company of Zurich, Switzerland. An online exhibit, “Detroit Publishing Company: Photographer to the World” [...] describes this process and explains that the company started in 1895 as the Photochrom Company of Detroit (see Articles of Incorporation with the State of Michigan, [...] ), then in 1898 began doing business as Detroit Photographic Company and in 1906 dba Detroit Publishing Company, until their closure in 1924. The 1888 date on the cover of this book is not the date that the Photochroms were made, but rather the date of the original black-and-white negatives that the company acquired in the late 1890s and into the early 1900s from a variety of photographers. The Photochrom color lithographs were made by this company from the 1897 through the 1920s. For more about this company, see the Archival Finding Aid, [...]
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By
Diane Drobka
on June 5, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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Wow! This book is incredible! Detroit Photographic Company images have fascinated me ever since I purchased my first Phostint postcard more than a decade ago. I immediately fell in love with their subject matter and subtle hues in stunning photos which captured everything from New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations to the beauty of the “First Americans.” It is thrilling to see these images enlarged with such great detail, illustrating the skill of the photographers and colorers and, in the case of the street scenes such as the one on the cover, the complexity of daily life. Walter and Arqué, and their collaborators at Taschen, organized the book in a very engaging style with just enough text to support the great photos. This is a must-have book for any Detroit Photographic connoisseur and would appeal to anyone who relishes amazing images of this long-gone era. Taschen has skillfully created this superb, albeit behemoth, documentary utilizing high-quality paper and precise binding. The fabulous double-page spreads are a special treat. While originally hesitating at the cost of the book, I now know that it is worth every cent and is a steal at that price. Congratulations to all those involved in creating this awe-inspiring masterpiece!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By
Stephen W. Worth
on June 2, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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Taschen does it again with another eye popping mammoth XL book. This one is jam packed with incredible photographs shot between 1888 and 1924. It documents things that are long gone... steamboats on the Mississippi, Indian villages and pueblos, crowded streets in turn of the century New York, and the wild west when it was still wild! This book is easily worth double the price, as are all of Taschen's XL books. Beautiful binding, printing and color. The double page spreads line up perfectly at the seams and they even lay flat the way the book is bound. Lots of care put into this one. Don't hesitate.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By
Grady Harp
HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on August 4, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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In a surprising release from Taschen we are privileged to view and absorb the archive of the Detroit Photographic Co. - a series of 100,000 images of landscapes, urban and rural scenes, ethnic types, architecture originating form 1888 to 1934 in the form of glass plates and black and white negatives. These compelling and important images have been translated into color using the Photochrom process and now are presented in Taschen's elegant fashion as the first color images of The United States.
Steps and decades after photographers such as Matthew Brady captured the Civil War and the other photographers who through the use of daguerreotypes memorialized both famous and common people, these images reveal the wonder of the New World form the natural wonders of our national parks to images of the Flatiron Building in New York, the Brooklyn Bridge, the infamous Mulberry Street of New York's Little Italy, fascinating images of Native Americans in tribal costumes, Coney Island, Atlantic City, Coronado Beach in California Santa Catalina Island and more.
It is an homage to the past, reverentially offered, but it is also a celebration of a country rich in dreams of the future. Highly nostalgic, this is one of the finer portfolios of early American vistas in print. Grady Harp, August 14
Steps and decades after photographers such as Matthew Brady captured the Civil War and the other photographers who through the use of daguerreotypes memorialized both famous and common people, these images reveal the wonder of the New World form the natural wonders of our national parks to images of the Flatiron Building in New York, the Brooklyn Bridge, the infamous Mulberry Street of New York's Little Italy, fascinating images of Native Americans in tribal costumes, Coney Island, Atlantic City, Coronado Beach in California Santa Catalina Island and more.
It is an homage to the past, reverentially offered, but it is also a celebration of a country rich in dreams of the future. Highly nostalgic, this is one of the finer portfolios of early American vistas in print. Grady Harp, August 14
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