FIRST PUBLICATION of the WORLD'S FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS of JAPANESE --- The 1853 Woodcuts of the 1851 Daguerreotypes by H.R. MARKS (1)

THERE ARE LESS THAN TWENTY KNOWN DAGUERREOTYPES OF JAPANESE IN THE WORLD TODAY. HERE IS THE STORY OF THE FIRST ONES EVER TAKEN.

I have divided the full page of woodblock illustrations into three strips --- top, middle, and bottom of page --- so that interested viewers may examine the engravings, and easily read the text via the ALL SIZES button. (Use ORIGINAL size). All three images have to be viewed in order (1), (2), (3) to read the full text, which continues from one to another.

In 2006, a hand-tinted copy of this newspaper page appeared in the back cover of Terry Bennett's book OLD JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHS - COLLECTORS' DATA GUIDE seen here at this link : www.old-japan.co.uk/book_ojp.html

These shipwrecked Japanese sailors were photographed in San Francisco by one H.R. Marks, a Daguerrotypist visiting from Baltimore, Maryland. The photographs remained private until their New York publication in 1853 --- the engravings seen above.

The story surrounding the shipwreck and other interesting comments about Japanese being tossed onto the shores of North America might prove an interesting read for some.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATIONS, AND HOW THEY HELPED SOLVE A MYSTERY......

Working at the ILLUSTRATED NEWS [of New York City] was a young engraver named FRANK LESLIE. After another staff artist had carefully re-draw the different Daguerreotype images as composite "group shots" on the wooden printing blocks, Leslie's job was to carefully carve the images for printing. His name can be seen signed (engraved) in the lower right.

Only a few years later, Leslie would start his own paper. FRANK LESLIE'S ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER debuted in late 1855, and became one of the most popular illustrated newspapers in the USA during the last half of the 19th Century.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Leslie

The whereabouts of the original Daguerreotypes remained a mystery until a young Japanese photo-researcher, NAOMI IZAKURA was able to match the images in these 1853 woodcuts to a few Daguerreotypes in a Japanese museum. It turned out that Leslie's engravings were highly accurate renditions of the Daguerreotype images.

Bolstered by this new understanding, and a confidence in accuracy of the woodcuts, a search was made for others that might exist in other collections or institutions.

Several of the original Daguerreotypes are now know in at least three collections.

HOWEVER, THE MAJORITY OF THESE IMAGES ARE STILL MISSING !!!

So, remember this flickr post in case you ever come across what SEEMS to be one of the guys in this old newspaper. The missing Dags are probably all still out there, and worth a bundle to the one who finds them or owns them. They pre-date the mainland Japanese Daguerreotype images of Eliphalet Brown Jr. by over three years.

By the way, if you know anything about Daguerreotypes, you will then know why ALL OF THEIR KIMONOS ARE WORN BACKWARDS !!!

And for you art purists out there, yes, I know the illustrations are actually "wood engravings" and not "woodcuts". I just like saying "woodcuts" ! ;-)

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Taken on: August 8, 2006

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Sets appears in: • MISC JAPAN • PROCESSING, PRINTING, and CONSERVATION more » • DAGUERREOTYPES « less

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