1264.ee.16

Imprint: xxx

Small folio volume with marbled paper boards and buckram spine-piece, measuring 341 x 260 mm, gilt edges, containing 36 salt print illustrations, with 23 pp. of descriptive notes on the photographs in German and French (also with French and German titlepages). The photographs follow the text and are mounted on guarded leaves, one to a page, recto only, with lithographed plate number, title and photographer's and publisher's credits. The plate numbering contains one irregularity: plate 12 is lacking, but becomes plate 36a at the end of the volume, clearly in order to maintain the chronological consistency of the arrangement of the photographs. The illustrations comprise several general view of Mainz Cathedral, followed by a series of smaller prints of sculptural monuments in the church. Helmut Gernsheim, in 'The rise of photography 1850-1880. The age of collodion' (London, 1988), draws attention to this work 'as an illustrated book of exceptional photographic quality,' noting that 'the judicious combination of German and French texts with so many large and small photographs of architectural details, such as portals and tombs, mark this book as the precursor of a modern architectural monograph, as well as being one of the earliest photographically illustrated books appearing in Germany' (pp. 130, 132).