‎N/N ( William Smedley - Marianne Silverston ?? ) - Contrexeville 1895 :‎
‎Contrexéville Etc. W.S. - M.E.S. June July 1895. ( Photograph album with 42 platinum prints ).‎

‎"14. S.l. ( England ), 1895, photograph album containing 42 platinum prints ( platinotypes ), size 90 x 110 mm, album size 190 x 245 mm, the photographs are printed directly on the album leaves and are all protected by a guard leaf. Bound in full red morocco, with elaborate gilt decoration and title on the front cover, all edges gilt. Silky end papers. Binding with some traces of use, interior fine except for photograph which shows foxing spots, mainly in the margin. The album describes a visit to the French spa resort Contrexéville ( Vosges ) here still a very rural place ( 23 pictures), further the castle of Houecourt (3 ), Basle and the Rhine ( 7) and the return via Calais (4) and Dover (1 final picture). All pictures are signed in the plate ''W.S.95'' , and have a caption with the subject name. The first page of the album is a photograph of a calligraphical title, as written above, in a simple rectangle. The initials read W.S. and M.E.S. Some of the pictures are interesting as they depict rural views of Contrexéville; e.g. an ox span transporting a tree trunk. Platinotype was an expensive and rare printing process whicht is known to be used by William Smedley and Marianne Silverston , members of the ''Brotherhood of the Linked Ring''. The attribution to W. Smedley is tentative and very uncertain. Further research into English photographical archives at the end of the 19th c. is necessary to establish with certainty the photographer of this album. On the platinotype process see : ''Nadeau's Encyclopedia pp. 388-389''.."‎

Reference : 47146

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