The World of Stereographs

By William C. Darrah

Stereographs are double photographs or printed images paired in such a manner, that when viewed with a stereoscope, appear as three-dimensional images. They were first produced commercially in 1850 and remained popular up to the 1930s.This book includes the names and locations of 3500 North American stereographers arranged alphabetically by states; and second, a world register of 4200 cited photographers giving the countries and approximate dates of activity, with references to the pages of the book on which they are cited.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0965051315
• ISBN13: 9780965051316
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: Land Yacht Pr
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 0.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Indispensible Source, 3-D Photography Guide and History of Stereoviews

William Culp Darrah was a biologist (specialist in paleobotany) with a strong interest in history and especially the history of stereography. He tracked down the local and peripatetic stereo photographers of the second half of the 19th century who recorded images of the rapidly-changing world of that era. Darrah built an enormous private collection of early stereographs. Not surprisingly, his collection was particularly strong in local American views, but the book covers stereo photography in 60 (!) countries. This 1977 privately printed book draws on that collection and includes fine-screen color and black and white reproductions of many rare stereoviews. The illustrations in this first edition are enormously superior in quality to those in reprint editions of this magisterial monograph. Its 246 pages include details about the careers of hundreds of local photographers whose stereoviews are now highly collectible. No serious student of photography or collector of early stereoviews can be without it.

An excellent reference book for the stereo view enthusiast

After all these years, Darrah's fascinating book remains one of the definitive resources for the serious collector of stereo views. Highly recommended. -David Burkhart, author of Earthquake Days: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire in 3-D.