Carleton E. Watkins mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, New Almaden Mine and the Mendocino Coast, California

This collection contains 50 mammoth plate, albumen photographs made in 1861 and 1863 by Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916), depicting Yosemite, the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, and Mendocino, California. The prints are all signed by Watkins and were originally bound in two volumes, now disbound. The first volume begins with a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864."

Ernest Frignet (b. 1823), dedicatee, wrote several books and articles on California and the West that published in France, most notably "La Californie, histoire, organisation politique et administrative, législation, description physique et géologique. Agriculture—industrie—commerce," (Paris, 1866). The "California Friends" who presented him with the photographs are unidentified.

The title pages are in decorative calligraphy by Fulgenzio Seregni, a native of Milan, Italy who came to California in 1858. He established himself in San Francisco, where he taught drawing and writing in public schools and colleges, and later became a well-known designer of marble monuments.

In addition to Watkins' signature, each print has a handwritten title in the style of calligrapher Seregni, on the mount below the print. The top corners of the prints are rounded or "dome-topped," a practice used to eliminate darkened corners caused by early camera lenses.

The volumes were bound by noted French bookbinder Léon Gruel (1841-1923), who operated a renowned bindery in Paris. The first leaf of each volume is stamped "GRUEL."