559A

Leather valise having belonged to earliest Bostonian photographer Samuel Bemis (1793-1881) acquiring

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:425.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Leather valise having belonged to earliest Bostonian photographer Samuel Bemis (1793-1881) acquiring
Bostonian photographer Samuel Bemis (1793-1881) acquiring his first daguerreotype camera in 1840 Bemis is credited as the earliest American landscape photographer primary views of Boston and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. His camera credited as the first commercially sold in the United States. It was later donated to the George Eastman Kodak Museum along with 12 daguerreotypes by Samuel Bemis. After his death in 1881 his remaining full plate Daguerre's were forgotten until an estate auction in 1981 when his mansion was cleaned out becoming one of the most important photographic finds of the century. Prior to this there were only 13 known to exist. The leather valise 18" X 8" X 5'. The inner leather lid monogrammed SA Bemis Boston, includes 3 of this rosewood cased wax seals, auction bill, article by Snap Shots and Middlebury VT Newspaper reporting on the auction.