32.1 Rare Books + Ephemera

For passionate collectors and researchers, 32.1 Rare Books + Ephemera discovers and preserves the authentic stories of cultural history. We provide a meticulously curated collection of over 13,000 rare books and ephemera items from pivotal social movements, scientific and artistic achievements and underrepresented voices, making significant historical artifacts accessible to all.

Membership(s): IOBA, Ephemera Society of America (ESA)

Arnold Genthe with a Foreword by Grace King

Impressions of Old New Orleans: A Book of Pictures

$300.00

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4to., 250 pp. unpaginated. 100 full page black and white photographic plates printed on rectos only, including many candid portraits of local African Americans, as well as architectural studies, street and garden views. Very Good with small stain on lower right and corner lacking the dust jacket. Item #913202413

 

This evocative early 20th-century volume showcases the atmospheric photography of Arnold Genthe, whose lens captured the vanishing charm of old New Orleans before modernization transformed its streets. With a warm and insightful foreword by Southern author Grace King, the book offers a rare visual record of the city’s French Quarter, Creole architecture, and street life at a pivotal moment in its history. Genthe’s soft-focus images and masterful compositions evoke the romance and mystery of a bygone era, while King’s prose situates them within the city’s cultural and historical fabric. Published in the 1920s, Impressions of Old New Orleans is among the most beautiful photographic tributes to the Crescent City. Collectors prize this title for its blend of documentary precision and artistic vision, as well as its association with two of the period’s most refined interpreters of place and character. A cornerstone work for enthusiasts of photography, New Orleans history, and Southern Americana.

 

Genthe [January 8, 1869 August 9, 1942] was a German-born American photographer, best known for his photos of San Francisco’s Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities. Uncommon title. 

 

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