Title: Schaaf's Fox Talbot
Product review: Larry Schaaf has put together an absolute benchmark of a book. To all of you who sat in the "college survey of art history," saw the 2" by 2" Fox Talbot image "The Soliloquy of the Broom" and wondered what the fuss was about; see this book. To all of you photographers who secretly wonder if photography is really art; see this book. One hundred images are reproduced with (no kidding) breathtaking quality and nuance. Each image is accompanied by a very readable account of how the image was produced and enough descriptive detail about the original image to satisfy an archeologist.If you are a photo researcher or archivist; read Schaaf's notes on "The photographic artifact as historical map" (p. 22). It is clear, it is complete, it is definitive. I wish all histories and text books could read like this.
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