Imagining paradise : the Richard and Ronay Menschel Library at George Eastman House, Rochester

We cite from the COVER:
"Imagining Paradise is the first book to showcase the treasures held within the Richard and Ronay Menschel Library at George Eastman House, renowned for its collection of books on photographic history. More than two hundred and fifty rare books have been carefully selected to reflect the incomparable strength and depth of this remarkable library, unparalleled in the world. Each work is richly illustrated and accompanied by commentary written by prominent scholars with particular specialties in the field of photographic history."
"The selected works represent a broad range of subjects: bucolic landscapes, travel and exploration, science and medicine, the literary and the illustrious. Groundbreaking publications by featured photographers include the incunabula of William Henry Fox Talbot, the reveries of Maxime Du Camp and Francis Frith, the idyllic visions of Peter Henry Emerson, and the exceptional books by Alvin Langdon Coburn (both published and unpublished). Within this book you will also find highlights of the turn-of-the-century international art movement as well as Alfred Stieglitz's momentous Camera Work and 291. This book features works illustrated with many and various photographic processes: tipped-in original salt prints, albumen prints, platinum prints, photogravures, carbonprints, collotypes, and Woodburytypes."
"Imagining Paradise offers a glimpse of the library's many versions of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre's seminal instructional manual describing the daguerreotype process, with translations in five different languages. Also included is a selection from the library's comprehensive collection of instructional literature— landmark manuals, journals, and technical books published during the first fifty years of photography, written for both amateur and professional."
"Rare works of great consequence can be found within, such as the Copy of the Treaty between Great Britain and China, signed at Nanking August 29, 1842. The Chinese text copied by the photographic process licensed by Talbot to W. Henry Collen is the only photographic copy known of the treaty that ended the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong, Also presented are works of exceptional beauty such as The Holy Bible, a two-volume edition dating from 1862 to 1863, bound in rich red morocco leather with gold letterpress, finished with bronze clasps, and illustrated with fifty-six photographs by Francis Frith."
"Following in the tradition of The Grolier Club's 1980 publication The Truthful Lens: A Survey of the Photographically Illustrated Book, 1844-1914 by Lucien Goldschmidt and Weston J. Naef, and in the spirit of the Museum's 1985 Masterpieces of Photography: From the George Eastman House Collections by Robert A. Sobieszek, we open the gates to our library and invite you to enjoy the pleasures of Imagining Paradise."
*
For facsimile view of Table of Contents please click URL