The 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop has established itself as one of America's most prestigious institutions for historic photography, emerging from founder Stephan Loewentheil's bold decision over four decades ago to leave his promising law career behind. What started as a personal passion has evolved into a distinguished repository where historic images are collected with meticulous care and curatorial precision. Today, his son Jacob continues this family legacy, bringing fresh perspective to generations of dedication to preserving America's photographic heritage.
The shop has developed several groundbreaking collections of early photography over the years, including comprehensive archives of 19th-century China and visual documentation of the American Civil War. However, their most spectacular achievement remains the collection of American West photography, built around monumental plates created with the legendary Mammoth camera, which was the largest photographic instrument of its era. This collection brings together masterpieces by renowned photographers Carleton Watkins, Charles Leander Weed, Eadweard Muybridge, William Henry Jackson, and Edward Curtis.
Running through all these works is a central theme: Yosemite Valley, the massive natural sanctuary widely considered the birthplace of America's modern environmental consciousness. The Loewentheil collection contains some of the earliest photographic records of Yosemite, spanning from the 1850s through the 1870s, alongside rare drawings by Thomas A. Ayres, who was the first artist to introduce the valley's magnificent waterfalls to the general public. One particularly impressive piece is a stunning album from the 1880s that combines views by Carleton Watkins and Isaiah Taber, two giants of 19th-century California photography.
These historic images capture the overwhelming beauty of Yosemite in remarkable detail – waterfalls cascading like curtains of light, the massive sequoia trees of Mariposa Grove, and the carved granite formations that define the valley's landscape. Together, they create a visual representation of Yosemite's grandeur, a place where quiet reflection meets what many consider a uniquely American form of natural sublime. The photographs serve as both artistic achievements and historical documents of America's relationship with its wilderness.
Large-format works by Eadweard Muybridge provide additional insight into how Yosemite influenced photographic creativity and technique. Before Muybridge became famous for his groundbreaking studies of motion, he had already established himself as one of San Francisco's most adventurous landscape photographers. In 1872, he embarked on an ambitious photographic expedition to Yosemite, creating nearly 500 different views in just six months, producing some of the most daring images of that time period.
Muybridge's approach was revolutionary for its era, as he deliberately sought out dramatic and dangerous vantage points that represented a distinctly modern perspective. He positioned his camera at the edges of cliffs and on precipices above waterfalls, capturing locations where the landscape's drama seemed to touch the sky itself. Philip Brookman, chief curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, noted in a catalog devoted to Muybridge that his "images stood apart from those of Watkins or any other photographer of Yosemite before him... for he focused more on the effects of light, clouds, and moving water than on the solidity of forms. He painted the temporality of nature using the visual tools of light, atmosphere, and composition."
Taken as a whole, these collections and the shop's continuously growing archive highlight the unique and important role that The 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop plays in American cultural preservation. By carefully gathering, maintaining, and sharing these historic images with the public, the shop allows people to rediscover the foundational artistic visions that established Yosemite's legendary status in American culture and helped define our broader understanding of the American landscape. The collection offers visitors not just a window into the past, but a comprehensive view of the photographic techniques and artistic sensibilities that have shaped how Americans understand and appreciate nature across multiple generations.
