John L. Stoddard's Lectures, 15 volumes (HC, 1925, in fine condition, $79)
John Stoddard taught Latin and French at an exclusive private school, but he wanted to travel. And so in 1874 he did. For two years he explored the world with a passion. Eventually he returned to teaching where he could pass on his stories of the world's cultures and histories. Word of his exciting talks got around, and soon he was sharing stories with adults. Historic Camera's History Librarian writes,"This launched a surprising new career that would prove to be far more lucrative than teaching at a private school."
That may be true, but it wasn't his lectures that got me excited, it was his photographs. When he gave his talks, he would also show magic lantern slides from his trip. And what photographs they were! He may have considered them secondary to his lectures, but he still made sure they were of the finest quality.
His lectures "became truly unique visual experiences. For example, his lecture on Constantinople included a mixture of photographs, engravings, recreations of historical scenes, and reproductions of drawings from noteworthy sites. Typically contemporary slide shows offer[d] no such media variety..."
John Stoddard never took a photograph. He only told his personal photographer exactly how to take them. "Many of his photographs were not retouched in any way, while others were artistically enveloped in shadows or ornately framed. Mr Stoddard would frequently display artistic reproductions alongside actual location photographs. His attitude was essentially, 'Anything goes," as long as the visuals emphasized his verbal descriptions."
These are amazing books. The inside cover pages are darkened, with remnants of tape on them, but the rest of the pages are purest white. How can that be when they are almost 90 years old? I remain amazed.
Then there are those photographs! Who knows how many there are. Somewhere in these books there must be a set of pages without a drawing or photograph, but I have yet to find it. So sit back, read his stories, enjoy his photos, and be thankful a set of books like this exists.
I bought this set for myself a year ago, but now it's time to share them. Look for them in the sets section.
