Alfred Stieglitz, Editor

(New York: Alfred Stieglitz, 1903-17), the complete set of 50 Numbers, the Steichen Supplement, and the 2 Special Numbers in 50 volumes, illustrated with photogravures and halftones after photographs by ALFRED STIEGLITZ, EDWARD STEICHEN, PAUL STRAND, KARL STRUSS, ALVIN LANGDON COBURN, GERTRUDE KÄSEBIER, HEINRICH KÜHN, ANNE BRIGMAN, CLARENCE WHITE, and many others.  4to, original gray wrappers, Number 2 with the title and all 11 Steichen plates signed and dated by Steichen in pencil, Number 47 with the front free endpaper personally inscribed to N. E. Montross, signed, and dated by Stieglitz in pencil (50 volumes)

Sotheby's New York, 16 May 1981, Sale 4611M, Lot 20

This complete set of Camera Work is in generally very good to excellent condition, except as noted below. Occasional foxing is visible on some of the mounts and tissue interleaves. As is typical with issues of Camera Work, the covers of each volume have multiple chips, tears, and losses along the edges, and some are detached from the volume. Number 2: - The title/colophon is signed and dated 'MDCCCCIII' by Steichen in pencil. - The mounts of plates one through 11 are signed and dated by Steichen in pencil. Number 4: - 'Ely Cathedral: A Grotesque' by Evans: The mount corners are torn, which does not affect the plate. Number 10: - 'Illustration for Madame Butterfly' by Abbott: There appear to be small tears in plate corners, and the lower left mount corner has town away from the leaf. Number 14: - 'William M. Chase' by Steichen: Various matte deposits, possibly mold, are visible on the plate. Number 21: - 'The Bridge Venice' by Coburn: There is a small chip along the lower margin edge. - 'Rodin' by Coburn: The right side of the image is creased. Number 38: - 'The Cleft of the Rock' by Brigman: The tissue is creased along the right side of the image. Number 47: - The front free endpaper is signed and inscribed in pencil 'To N. E. Montross / with kindest thanks ---- / Alfred Stieglitz / January 29 - 1915.' Number 48: - There is a stray red deposit on the cover.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Alfred Stieglitz's Camera Work, one of the key documents of 20th-century photography, is rare as a complete set.  The present offering, 50 volumes in their original bindings, is complete with all of the plates as issued, as well as the Stieglitz Icy Night photogravure as an advertisement for Goerz lenses in Number 4, and the green-and-gold Steichen-designed advertisement for the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession in Number 13.  This set is further distinguished by Steichen's signature on the title page and on all of the Steichen plates in Number 2. 

According to Sotheby's 1981 cataloguing for this set of Camera Work, about half of the volumes were given by Stieglitz to his close friend, Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), a prolific writer and critic of modern art, architecture, and city planning.  Mumford was one of the writers and critics attracted to the intellectual atmosphere at Stieglitz's Intimate Gallery, along with Sherwood Anderson, Hart Crane, Jean Toomer, and others.  His column on architecture, The Sky Line, along with art reviews and other pieces, appeared regularly in The New Yorker from the 1930s through the 1970s.  He was an editor of America and Alfred Stieglitz, a collection of essays celebrating the photographer's 70^th birthday, and the author of over 30 books, primarily or architecture and the modern city, including The Culture of Cities (1938). 

This set is also notable for a personal inscription from Stieglitz on the free endpaper of Number 47: 'To N. E. Montross/ with kindest thanks----/ Alfred Stieglitz/ January 29 – 1915.' Newman Emerson Montross (d. 1932) was a New York City art dealer and collector.  His area of specialty was modern American painting.  Sue Davidson Lowe, in her Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography (New York, 1983), describes how Stieglitz, when '291' closed in 1917, consigned some of the art work to other New York galleries, including Montross, who also represented the Stieglitz-circle painter John Marin.  Indeed, when N. E. Montross fell ill in 1924, on the eve of his annual Marin show, it was Stieglitz he asked to take over the gallery on a temporary basis.  Like Stieglitz, Montross was adventurous and committed to modern art; in addition to contemporary American painters, he also showed the work of Matisse and Van Gogh.  The New York Times wrote that Montross's 'long championship of modern American art produced memorable results and will not soon be forgotten' (18 December 1932).