Review by Choice Review
This revision of part of Helmut and Alison Gernsheim's History of Photography (1955) incorporates new biographical information about several photographers. Readers preferring factual description will find this book as useful as the older edition; readers requiring interpretation and analysis would do better to consult recent monographs that place major figures in context, such as Mike Weaver's Julia Margaret Cameron, 1815-1879 (CH, Dec '84); Roger Taylor's George Washington Wilson (1981); and Stephanie Spencer's O.G. Rejlander, Photography as Art (CH, Dec '85). Gernsheim divides material by subject (fine art, news, instantaneous, etc.), and technical processes are strongly emphasized. The bibliography is brief; it would have been useful had more of the major books and articles of the last decade been included. The numerous illustrations are superior in quality. Level: lower-division undergraduate. -S. Spencer, North Carolina State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
