Rare Books

Album of the Yo-semite Valley, California

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Description: This album contains 30 reduced-size copies of Carleton E. Watkins' 1861 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite and Mariposa Big Trees. The album was made by publisher D. Appleton & Company approximately 1865-1866, for sale to the public. The images in this album are 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches and have domed tops. The title page reads: "Album of the Yo-Semite Valley, California, D. Appleton & Company, 443 & 445 Broadway, New York."
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Publication date: [1866]
Call number: 406039
Creator: Watkins, Carleton E (1829-1916)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Inscription on title page: "H. [Lend.?] Hodge / From Mother, Dec. 25th 1866."

Vol. 1. Yo-semite Valley / Photographic Views of the Falls and Valley of Yo-semite in Mariposa County, California

Rare Books

Watkins made these photographs in Yosemite in 1861, with a camera he made himself to hold glass plate negatives measuring 18 x 22 inches, which was the largest size ever used at that time. The photographs are scenic landscape views of Yosemite Valley, including rivers, waterfalls, massive granite cliffs and boulders, and giant sequoia trees in the Mariposa Grove. One view depicts naturalist Galen Clark (1814-1910) standing in front of the ancient sequoia called Grizzly Giant.

379010

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[The Domes from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite]

Visual Materials

[Watkins no. 94] Signed in ink below print "No. 94" and "C. E. Watkins." Written in pencil at bottom of mount: "The Domes, from Sentinel Dome, Yo Semite."

(photCL Watkins 75)

Yo-semite Valley [picture] : photographic views falls and valley of Yo-Semite in Mariposa County, California / executed by C. E. Watkins, San Francisco

Visual Materials

105362

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Title page in decorative calligraphy reading: Yo-semite Valley / Photographic Views of the Falls and Valley of Yo-semite in Mariposa County, California / Executed by C. E. Watkins of San Francisco / San Francisco, California / 1863

Rare Books

A collection of 50 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, the New Almaden Mine, and Mendocino, California by photographer Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916). The prints were in a two-volume set, now disbound, containing a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864." The photographs are landscape views of Yosemite and the Mariposa giant sequoias, taken by Watkins in 1861, followed by 1863 views of New Almaden Quicksilver Mine and Mendocino, both in Northern California. The mining series includes views of workers and the miners' community of small houses and wooden shacks. One view shows young boys with wheelbarrows of rock. The Mendocino Coast images focus on lumber mills near the mouths of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, with one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, in front of wood plank dwellings, and a group of soldiers at Fort Bragg.

379010

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Yo Semite Falls (Upper View)

Rare Books

Watkins no. 53. Image size: 16 1/4 x 20 3/4 inches. Note: Naef no. 196.

379010

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View down the valley from Union Point. Yo Semite

Visual Materials

Watkins Pacific Coast #3130

photCL 74

Album of the Yo-semite Valley, California

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Vol. 1. Yo-semite Valley / Photographic Views of the Falls and Valley of Yo-semite in Mariposa County, California

[The Domes from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite]

Yo-semite Valley [picture] : photographic views falls and valley of Yo-Semite in Mariposa County, California / executed by C. E. Watkins, San Francisco

Title page in decorative calligraphy reading: Yo-semite Valley / Photographic Views of the Falls and Valley of Yo-semite in Mariposa County, California / Executed by C. E. Watkins of San Francisco / San Francisco, California / 1863

Yo Semite Falls (Upper View)

View down the valley from Union Point. Yo Semite