Lot 5487: EHNINGER, JOHN WHETTON. 1827-1889.

Autograph Etchings by American Artists. New York: W.A. Townsend, 1859. Illustrated with 12 albumen prints, mounted. Folio (350 x 270 mm; images mostly 9 x 7 inches or smaller). Original roan, blindstamped and gilt lettered. Margin of text leaves waterstained, binding worn, upper cover near detached.

First edition of probably the only nineteenth century American book with cliché-verres. The process involves applying an opaque layer to a sheet of glass (by smoking it, for example), then etching an image through that layer before printing onto light-sensitized paper. Fox Talbot experimented with the process in 1834, but it was not "re-discovered" until 1853. Popularized by Corot, the process is here used by A.B. Durand, E. Leutze, J.F. Kensett, F.O.C. Darley, J.W. Casilear, E. Johnson, S.R. Gifford, G.C. Lambdin, G. Boughton, W.P.W. Dana, L.R. Mignot and Ehninger himself.
Provenance: Anna Wharton (gift inscription from her brother dated Christmas, 1859).