England — The complete archive of The Book Collector, a literary journal founded by author Ian Fleming in 1952, is now available for individual and institutional subscriptions worldwide. It currently comprises 280 issues that can be seamlessly accessed on web, IOS and Android devices.

Commenting on all aspects of the book, the quarterly issues of The Book Collector feature fascinating articles written by international experts together with book reviews, auction results indexed by title and author, details of book dealers’ catalogues and of exhibitions held worldwide. Ian Fleming, who was most famously known for his creation of the character of James Bond but who also had a lesser-known passion for book collecting, founded The Book Collector the same year that he wrote Casino Royale, the first Bond novel. The range and sharpness of the writing make The Book Collector an essential resource for all who are interested in our literary heritage, whether students, academics or literature enthusiasts.

The new digital archive’s intuitive stacking interface means that each decade, year and issue benefits from the advanced search functionalities of the Exact Editions platform. Specific authors, articles and topics can be located instantly and shared with fellow subscribers at the touch of a button, constituting a seamless reader experience.

The Book Collector is available in the Exact Editions individual and institutional shops here:

Individuals: https://shop.exacteditions.com/the-book-collector

Institutions: https://institutions.exacteditions.com/the-book-collector

Publisher James Fleming said: “The brand new digital archive will be a resource that proves second to none to those who study or have a passion for literature. We’re excited to be working with Exact Editions to extend the journal’s reach to an international academic audience.”

Managing Director of Exact Editions, Daryl Rayner, commented: “It’s a joy to have the complete archive of The Book Collector on the platform. The issues have transferred wonderfully to both web and mobile digital platforms and it will attract subscribers from around the globe.”

About The Book Collector:

The Book Collector has now been published without break for nearly seventy years. It comes out quarterly and offers 192 pages of wit, pleasure and knowledge on all aspects of the book. Each issue contains up to ten articles, illustrated as appropriate, plus reviews, prices at book auctions, obituaries and a section on world-wide book chat.

About Exact Editions:

Exact Editions is a digital publishing company based in London. It is a team of producers, developers and designers that turns periodicals with archives into dynamic, user-friendly digital editions. Exact Editions specialises in digitising content and selling subscriptions across web, iOS and Android platforms, for individuals and institutions.

Minneapolis — You can’t judge a book by its cover, unless the cover is 300 years old, worm-devoured, or from a remote archive in the Mediterranean Sea. Then, an archival expert can conclude a lot—not just about the individual book, but about the culture and society that produced it.

The public will have the opportunity to learn about this and more from Hill Museum & Manuscript Library archival experts at three lectures taking place this spring at Minnesota Center for Book Arts:

Malta, Slavery & Archives: The Legacy of Human Trafficking in Early Modern Documents
Thursday, February 20; 7-9pm

Cut, Eaten, Burnt, Stained: The Perilous Life of Old Books
Thursday, March 26; 7-9pm

Books Ripped Away: Secularization and the Removal of Monastic Books to State Libraries
Thursday, April 16; 7-9pm

Before and after the presentations, attendees will have the chance to handle rare books, some close to 350 years old.

“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with HMML for the third year, and to offer audiences the chance to learn from HMML’s vast collections of digitized and physical rare books and manuscripts from cultures across the world. Our partnership reflects each organization’s commitment to preserving the material culture of the book in the 21st century,” says Elysa Voshell, Executive Director of MCBA.

The first lecture in the series features Dr. Daniel K. Gullo, the Joseph S. Micallef Curator of the Malta Study Center and Coordinator of Digital Humanities. He will look at the role of small archives in Malta to discuss the nature of slavery and what it tells us about human trafficking, law, and international communication in the 18th century.

In the second lecture, HMML’s Assistant Director for Strategic Development, Dr. Melissa Moreton, will explore the world of damaged medieval books and demonstrate the resilience of these carriers of knowledge. The manuscripts and early printed books that have survived across the centuries have endured use by many hands and abuse in many forms. Manuscripts have been cut up, their illuminations sold and dispersed, eaten by book worms and rodents, damaged in floods and fires—but often survive these ravages to carry forward the messages held within their covers.

In the third lecture, Dr. Matthew Heintzelman, Curator of Western Collections and Rare Books at HMML, will look at the history of monastic collections that were built over centuries and their removal to the Bavarian State Library, state libraries and archives in Austria.

Free and open to the public, the lectures will take place in the Target Performance Hall at Open Book, with wine receptions to follow.

New York — 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings on Thursday, March 5 at Swann Galleries is set to bring forth a remarkable set of works on paper from the Modern period including important examples from Gustave Baumann, Jean-François Millet, Diego Rivera and more.

Works from the nineteenth century lead the sale with Jean-François Millet’s circa 1871­–72 charcoal-on-canvas study for the artist’s oil painting La Famille du Payson, estimated at $40,000 to $60,000. James A. M. Whistler is available with the etchings The Garden, 1880, and Balcony, Amsterdam, 1889, expected to bring $30,000 to $50,000 and $40,000 to $60,000, respectively. Edgar Degas’s rare etching and aquatint Loges d’Actrices, circa 1879–80, is set to come across the block in the fifth state, one of approximately eight impressions in this state, at $15,000 to $20,000. Also by Degas is La Danse Espagnole, a bronze circa–1885 sculpture based on the wax model the artist executed in the same year. The sculpture carries an estimate of $5,000 to $8,000. Further works of note include an artist’s proof of Mary Cassatt’s drypoint Gathering Fruit, circa 1893, and the etching In the Opera Box (No. 3), circa 1880, estimated at $8,000 to $12,000, and $20,000 to $30,000, respectively.

An exceptional offering of Latin American art features Diego Rivera’s a 1923 pencil study for Un Maestro Protegido por Soldados Revolucionarios, an image in the artist’s mural at the Secretería de Educación Pública in Mexico City ($7,000-10,000). The revolutionary in the study can be seen in the background of the 1932 lithograph Escuela al Aire Libre, also featured in the sale ($12,000-18,000). From Francisco Toledo’s transatlantic period comes Formes Surréalistes, a circa 1965 watercolor ($15,000-20,000). Roberto Matta’s 1958 two-part bronze sculpture with black patina Crucifixión is available ($15,000-20,000) along with a run of color aquatints by Rufino Tamayo: Cabexa Sobre Fondo Rosa, Personaje de Perfil, and Cabeza sobre fondo verde ($3,000-5,000 apiece).

Works by Gustave Baumann, Stuart Davis, Martin Lewis, Louis Lozowick and Grant Wood stand out among Modern American printmakers, with Lewis’s 1931 drypoint Rainy Day, Queens leading the group at $15,000 to $20,000. Baumann’s 1917 color woodcut Provincetown, and Davis’s 1931 lithograph Two Figures and El are offered at $10,000 to $15,000 each; Lozowick’s Through Brooklyn Bridge Cables, lithograph, 1938, and Wood’s Approaching Storm, lithograph, 1940, are set to bring $5,000 to $8,000 apiece.

Modern European masters include a scintillating run of examples by Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and René Magritte, among others. Notable works include Der Spaziergang I, 1922, an early etching by Chagall ($10,000-15,000); Miró’s 1967 color etching Le Rebelle ($25,000-35,000); Nature Morte à la Pastèque, a 1962 color linoleum cut by Picasso ($40,000-60,000); and Magritte’s Paysage de Baucis (Self Portrait with a Hat), etching, 1962 ($15,000-20,000).

A selection of stalwart German Expressionists features Edvard Munch with Den Sinnssyke, lithograph, 1908–09, with only six other impressions found at auction in the past 30 years ($10,000-15,000); Max Pechstein is on offer with Yali und sein Weisses Weib, 1923, a complete set of eight etchings ($5,000-8,000); and Wassily Kandinsky’s Erste Katnadel fur die Editions Cahiers d’Art, drypoint, 1930 ($7,000-10,000). Lyonel Feininger, Erich Heckel, Paul Klee and Käthe Kollwitz round out the assortment.

Further highlights include Henry Moore’s Two Figures, an abstract 1935 watercolor with charcoal and color pastels ($15,000-20,000); Jean Dubuffet’s L’enfle-chique II, a 1963 color lithograph ($15,000-20,000); and Françoise Gilot with Composition, gouache and watercolor ($5,000-8,000).

Exhibition opening in New York City February 29. The complete catalogue and bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com and on the Swann Galleries App.

London — The Story of Babar follows the incredible journey of le petit éléphant from bedtime tale to one of the most memorable and loved children’s stories of all time.

Jean de Brunhoff ’s original artwork for Histoire de Babar is held in the archives of The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, but is too fragile for permanent public display. Working closely with Christine Nelson, Drue Heinz Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts at The Morgan, we have faithfully reproduced the first sketches of Babar, de Brunhoff ’s original handmade mock-up book (maquette) and a facsimile of the French first-edition of the published book.

The Story of Babar also includes a fascinating commentary volume, bringing together a selection of writing on both Babar and de Brunhoff as well as a detailed annotation of each of the sketches and the maquette alongside thumbnail reproductions of every page. The commentary opens with Faïza Guène’s newly commissioned essay ‘The Go-Between’, and includes New Yorker columnist Adam Gopnik’s essay ‘Freeing the Elephants’ and Christine Nelson’s essay ‘Babar Begins’. The first edition is newly translated into English, from the original French, by Christine Nelson and Sophie Lewis.

Limited to 750 copies numbered by hand
Exclusively available from The Folio Society
UK £345.00 US$495.00 Can $665.00 Aus $760.00

Los Angeles — Michelangelo: Mind of the Master brings a collection of rare Michelangelo drawings of the highest quality to Los Angeles from February 25 through June 7, 2020, offering visitors the opportunity to see first-hand the genesis of some of the master’s most iconic works.  

Michelangelo (1475-1564) is widely acknowledged as one of the most creative and influential artists in the history of western art. Indeed, his most famous works—from the marble David in Florence to the fresco paintings in the Sistine Chapel and the monumental dome of Saint Peter’s in Rome—have come do define the Italian Renaissance. Moreover, Michelangelo was a brilliant draftsman, making the up-close study of his drawings an unparalleled experience.

“Every one of Michelangelo’s iconic creations began with a drawing,” said Timothy Potts, director of the Getty Museum. “It is through his masterful drawings that we can witness his creative process at its most spontaneous and expressive. This exhibition presents works from the unrivaled collection of the Teylers Museum in the Netherlands that have never before been exhibited as a group in the United States. This exhibition is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that cannot fail to make a lasting impression on all who see it.”

Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Getty Museum in conjunction with the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, the Netherlands, Michelangelo: Mind of the Master brings an important selection of more than 28 exquisite Michelangelo drawings of the highest quality, many of which have never before been shown outside of Europe. Most of the sheets have sketches on both sides of the paper, and will be exhibited on freestanding pedestals so visitors can witness Michelangelo’s use of the entire sheet.

Given that Michelangelo burned large quantities of his drawings, the exhibition provides an unusual opportunity to experience firsthand a key group of surviving sketches, most of which were once in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), a fascinating and unconventional art-loving monarch who abdicated the throne and moved to Rome, where she built a famously important art collection.

“Drawing was a key aspect of Michelangelo’s creativity, and arguably no artist has used it more effectively in the expression of the human form,” said Julian Brooks, curator of drawings at Getty Museum. “From preparatory drawings and compositional sketches to detailed figure studies, the drawings in Mind of the Master are a revelation, offering incomparable insight into the fertile imagination and hard work of a titan among Renaissance artists.”

The exhibition explores the range of Michelangelo’s work as a painter, sculptor, and architect through his works on paper, including designs for celebrated projects such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Last Judgement, the Medici Chapel tombs, and the cupola of Saint Peter’s basilica, Rome.

For Michelangelo, drawing was a fundamental, lifelong activity. When he was a student, it helped him learn from other artists’ work; thereafter drawing was a tool he used to capture reality and the conceptions of his imagination. Consistently dedicated to drawing the human figure from life, a growing practice in Florentine artists’ studios at the time, Michelangelo took this to a new level of verisimilitude through keen observation, as well as by studying dissected corpses to better understand the underlying muscles.

Early in his career, Michelangelo drew mainly in pen and ink, but he soon came to appreciate the convenience and effectiveness of naturally mined chalk. He used both red and black colors, preferring the latter as time went on.

Today, as through history, Michelangelo’s drawings are valued not only as works exhibiting extraordinary skill but also as windows into the mind of the master —an intimate way to explore the creation of some of the greatest works of Renaissance art.

The Teylers Museum opened its doors in 1784 and is known as the oldest museum in the Netherlands, with a collection that is unique in the world. The collection of Michelangelo drawings has been in the museum since 1791 and this is the first time they have left the Teylers Museum as a group.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has published an accompanying catalog with contributions from leading art historians including Emily Peters, Julian Brooks, and Carel van Tuyll van Serooskerken. At Getty, the exhibition is curated by Julian Brooks, senior curator of drawings with Edina Adam, assistant curator of drawings.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Major support comes from Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder. It is generously supported by an anonymous gift in memory of Melvin R. Seiden. The exhibition is sponsored by City National Bank.

Washington, D.C. — The Library of Congress has acquired the archive of photographer Shawn Walker and his collection of photos, ephemera and audio recordings representing the influential Kamoinge Workshop based in Harlem, the Library announced today.

Founded in New York City in 1963, the Kamoinge Workshop is a collective of leading African American photographers, such as Anthony Barboza, Louis Draper, Adger Cowans, Albert Fenner, Ray Francis, Toni Parks, Herb Randall, Herb Robinson, Beuford Smith and Ming Smith. Walker is a founding member and also served as an archivist, helping to preserve the group’s history.

The Shawn Walker archive contains nearly 100,000 photographs, negatives and transparencies depicting life in Harlem — a pivotal crossroad of African diaspora culture — between 1963 and the present. The Kamoinge collection — generously donated by Walker — consists of nearly 2,500 items, including prints by Kamoinge members such as Barboza, Draper, Smith and others. The Library of Congress worked with the Photography Collections Preservation Project to acquire both the Walker archive and the Kamoinge collection with an electronic finding aid. These materials will join the Library’s other important collections of photography by African Americans such as Gordon Parks, Robert McNeill, Roland Freeman, Dawoud Bey and Walker’s mentor, Roy DeCarava.

“We are very pleased to celebrate the addition of these two important collections to the Library’s extensive representation of African American life in the United States, from photography’s earliest formats to the present day,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said.

Walker’s collection is the first comprehensive archive of an African American photographer to join the national library, which has collected photographs by African Americans for more than 100 years.

About Photographer Shawn Walker
Born and raised in Harlem, Walker learned photography at a young age by practicing with his uncle, Herbert Hoover Winfield. Encouraged by his mother, Florine Winfield Walker, he earned a B.F.A. from Empire State College and made photography his life pursuit. For more than 50 years, he photographed life in Harlem and surrounding areas. He taught at New York University and the International Center of Photography and lectured widely.

"A lifetime resident of Harlem, I have tried to document the world around me, particularly the African American community, especially in Harlem, from an honest perspective so that our history is not lost,” Walker said. “I am pleased that both my own photographic artwork and also some of the materials I have collected in my role as a cultural anthropologist will have a permanent home in an institution that will make them available to the public. I am so satisfied that this work has found a home in such a prestigious institution and can finally be shared with the world."

Walker’s images depict scenes of daily life, city streets, parades and celebrations, poverty, drug use and policing, among other subjects. Walker made photographs of African American political leaders such as Jesse Jackson, David Dinkins and Elijah Muhammad, and cultural icons like Maya Angelou, Spike Lee, Toni Morrison, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.

Walker traveled outside of New York, photographing in cities throughout the United States, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Oakland and San Francisco. He photographed New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He also photographed abroad in places like Cuba, Guyana, Nigeria, Senegal and Mexico.

About the Kamoinge Workshop
The Kamoinge Workshop came together in 1963 in response to racial discrimination against black photographers by mainstream publications. The word “Kamoinge” means “a group of people acting and working together” in Gikuyu, the language of the Kikuyu people of Kenya.

Senior members like Draper and DeCarava mentored the younger generation, providing guidance in the darkroom, business advice and other kinds of support. The collective organized exhibitions; it also self-published a series of annuals to publicize members’ work and respond to misrepresentations of black life in the mainstream press.

“I collected these materials over the years since joining Kamoinge as a founding member (with the least amount of photographic experience) in 1963,” Walker said. “Kamoinge was my Sorbonne, with my introduction to and discussions and lessons on film and printing, photography, jazz, painting, literature and the other arts.” The book “Timeless: Photographs by Kamoinge” (2015) brought together work that met the vision of another founding member, Draper, who said, “We speak of our lives as only we can.”

This year the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond has organized a major exhibition about Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop that includes photography by Walker and 14 other early members of the collective. Following its time in Richmond, the exhibition will travel to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Previously, Walker’s work was exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, the Brooklyn Museum, the International Center of Photography, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and other cultural institutions.

About the Library’s Photography Collections
The Library of Congress holds an immense photography collection that is international in scope but particularly rich in depicting the history of the United States from the dawn of photography, as well as the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.

Among the more than 16 million pictures in the Library’s Prints and Photographs collections, only a handful were created by members of the Kamoinge Workshop prior to this acquisition. Completed through both gift and purchase, the acquisition marks a significant addition to the representation of African Americans’ visual culture from the past 50 years by leading African American photographers.

The Walker collection helps the Library expand its role as a leading institution for the study of African American visual culture. It builds upon the visual materials from the NAACP records and the McNeill family collection documenting 200 years of African American leadership, as well as smaller holdings by other photographers.

The Shawn Walker Photography Archive will become part of the Prints and Photographs collection. After the archive is further organized, it will be available for research and served by appointment. Selections from the collection will also be digitized. Walker maintains rights to his images during his lifetime and that of his wife.

New York — Swann Galleries’ sale of Vintage Posters on Thursday, February 13 was the house’s most successful February poster offering in over 10 years.

A collection of over 350 Puerto Rican posters, showcasing the best of the island’s graphic artists and designers, led the sale at $37,500. Amassed by a studio assistant of Rafael Trufiño, Lorenzo Homar and José Rosa, “the archive was one of the most items in the sale, representing almost half a century’s worth of graphic design from Puerto Rico and garnering more interest than any other item in the sale,” noted Nicholas D. Lowry, the house’s president and director of vintage posters.

Nine Mucha designs earned spots in the top 20 lots. Highlights included The Flowers, a group of three decorative panels, 1898, which earned $18,200; Cycles Perfecta, 1897, saw $13,750; and Lance Parfum “Rodo”, 1896, brought a record for the poster at $10,000. Arnost Hofbauer proved successful with all three of the artist’s posters on offer achieving records: Hana Kvapilova Recitace, 1899, set the record for the artist at $8,125, while II. Vystava Spolki “Manes” / Topicuv Salon, 1898, and Topicuv Salon, 1898, set records for the posters at $6,750 and $5,750, respectively. Also of note was Georges de Feure’s Le Journal des Ventes, 1898—the image with rare text brought $11,250.

Further records featured Pan-American Exposition / Niagara, 1901, by Evelyn Rumsey Cary, and Chicago / New York Central Lines, 1929, by Leslie Ragan—both won by institutions. Cary’s American Art Nouveau image, based on the artist’s painting Spirit of Niagara, set a record for Cary at $11,250; while Ragan’s first poster for the New York Central Lines earned a record for the image at $8,125.

Additional highlights included Dwight Clark Shepler’s advertisement for skiing in Sun Valley ($10,625); Walter L. Green’s New York Central Line image for travel to Storm King ($7,250); and Aryeh El-Hanani’s The Palestine Exhibition Vienna / XIV Zionist Congress, 1925 ($6,250).

The next auction from the Vintage Posters department at Swann will be Graphic Design on May 7. Visit swanngalleries.com or download the Swann Galleries App for catalogues, bidding and inquiries.

London — Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917 is remembered for one of the great feats of human daring and valour. Attempting to sail across the Weddell Sea, the expedition ship Endurance became trapped in pack ice, eventually disintegrating in October 1915. The dramatic escape of the crew is the stuff of legend. The expedition’s official photographer, Australian Frank Hurley, captured life on board the stricken vessel and the ship’s final hours. A newly discovered rare presentation album of Hurley’s Photographs of Scenes and Incidents in Connection with the Happenings to the Weddell Sea Party is offered at Bonhams Travel and Exploration Sale in London on Wednesday 26 February. Consigned by a private owner in the UK, it is estimated at £30,000-40,000.
 
Frank Hurley joined the Shackleton expedition as the official photographer in 1914, having gained experience with Douglas Mawson’s 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition. After Endurance became immobilised in the frozen Weddell Sea, he photographed the daily life of the crew as they awaited developments.  It was hoped that seasonal weather changes would warm the sea sufficiently to allow the ship to float free, but before this could happen Endurance gradually and inexorably buckled under the pressure of the ice.  Hurley spent the last three days of the ship’s life photographing the unfolding drama from every angle.
 
The unavoidable decision to abandon ship presented Hurley with an unenviable task. With a long march ahead into an uncertain future, weight was at a premium and he was forced to destroy 400 plates to lessen the load. (It could have been worse; Mrs Chippy, the ship’s cat had to be shot). Of the 120 plates that were carried to safely, 79 were used to produce the carbon prints in the presentation album, only six other copies of which are known to exist. (One copy was presented to King George V immediately after Hurley returned to England). Hurley later used the material to produce lantern slides for lectures and a documentary film, South, in 1919.
 
Bonhams Head of Books, Manuscripts and Photographs, Matthew Haley said: “The fate of Endurance and the crew’s astonishing and tortuous journey back against all the odds is rightly seen as a testament to the human spirit under extreme pressure. Hurley’s images convey the terrible situation in which the men found themselves, and have come to define  the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration as it drew to a close.”    
 
Frank Hurley (1885-1962) was one of Australia’s greatest photographic pioneers. In addition to his work in the Antarctic, he also produced many memorable images as an official photographer with the Australian forces during both World Wars.  He was an acclaimed documentary and feature filmmaker. 

Dallas, TX – An extremely rare copy of The Federalist Papers that was personally given by James Madison to American diplomat and overseas consul James Maury will cross the auction block for the first time in Heritage Auctions’ Rare Books Auction March 4 in New York.

The two-volume The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787 (estimate: $250,000+) is considered by American historians as the cornerstone of the new nation’s theory of government, written “to meet the immediate need of convincing the reluctant New York State electorate of the necessity of ratifying the newly proposed Constitution of the United States,” with the first of what would become a collection of 85 anonymous essays, submitted under the pseudonym “Publius,” appearing Oct. 27, 1787 in The Independent Journal, or The General Advertiser (PMM).

The “Publius” pseudonym was used by the three authors: Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. What moves this lot from historically significant to the kind of rare book around which any collection can be built is the fact that it was given directly by Madison to Maury, and the remarkable condition of the 233-year-old volumes.

This copy is extremely important because it identifies by name one of the authors of the anonymous publication. That the authors wrote under the collective “Publius” pseudonym was not widely known at the time, making the fact that Madison identified himself to Maury extremely significant, because it alludes to the importance of Maury, both to the Founding Fathers and in representing the young nation and its political values overseas.

Although there are no true presentation copies of the Federalist Papers, two personal association copies are known to exist. Aside from the present copy, the only other known copy, a gift from Hamilton, is in the collection of the Pennsylvania Historical Society on deposit at the Library Company of Philadelphia.

“These books are an important part of American history,” Heritage Auctions Rare Books Director James Gannon said. “Only about 500 copies are believed to have been printed, and the fact that this one was presented by one of the authors makes the demand for it far greater. Because the only other known copy is housed in an institution, this is the only copy like it that ever has been made available to the public. This copy is the only such copy ever offered for sale.”

The Federalist is compelling because it is the founding fathers’ own insight into what the Constitution is and what this country should be. The continued importance of the text since its original publication is laid out in Printing and the Mind of Man: “As a commentary on the Constitution by men included among its principal architects The Federalist has been used from the beginning of the nineteenth century to modern times as an interpreter of the Constitution not only by laymen but by lawyers and Justices of the U. S. Supreme Court.”

The essays that comprise The Federalist were written and published in newspapers throughout the nation to convince these states to ratify this new Constitution.

Printed in book form and sold by J. and A. M’Lean in 1788, this first edition of the collected essays is one of the scarce “thick paper” copies. Each volume bears a holograph note in Maury’s hand on the recto of the front flyleaf, noting how he came to possess his copy of The Federalist and cementing its remarkable association: “James Maury / From Mr Madison / one of the supposed / authors.”

New York — Opening March 10, 2020, the exhibition Photography's Last Century: The Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection celebrates the remarkable ascendancy of photography in the last hundred years through the magnificent promised gift to The Met of more than 60 extraordinary photographs from Museum Trustee Ann Tenenbaum and her husband, Thomas H. Lee, in honor of the Museum's 150th anniversary in 2020. The exhibition will feature masterpieces by a wide range of the medium's greatest practitioners, including Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Ilse Bing, Joseph Cornell, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Andreas Gursky, Helen Levitt, Dora Maar, László Moholy-Nagy, Jack Pierson, Sigmar Polke, Man Ray, Laurie Simmons, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Edward Weston, and Rachel Whiteread.

The exhibition is made possible by Joyce Frank Menschel and the Alfred Stieglitz Society.

Max Hollein, Director of The Met, said, "Ann Tenenbaum brilliantly assembled an outstanding and very personal collection of 20th-century photographs, and this extraordinary gift will bring a hugely important group of works to The Met's holdings and to the public's eye. From works by celebrated masters to lesser-known artists, this collection encourages a deeper understanding of the formative years of photography, and significantly enhances our holdings of key works by women, broadening the stories we can tell in our galleries and allowing us to celebrate a whole range of crucial artists at The Met. We are extremely grateful to Ann and Tom for their generosity in making this promised gift to The Met, especially as we celebrate the Museum's 150th anniversary. It will be an honor to share these remarkable works with our visitors."   

"Early on, Ann recognized the camera as one of the most creative and democratic instruments of contemporary human expression," said Jeff Rosenheim, Joyce Frank Menschel Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs. "Her collecting journey through the last century of picture-making has been guided by her versatility and open-mindedness, and the result is a collection that is both personal and dynamic."

The Tenenbaum Collection is particularly notable for its focus on artists' beginnings, for a sustained interest in the nude, and for the breadth and depth of works by women artists. Paul Strand's 1916 view from the viaduct confirms his break with the Pictorialist past and establishes the artist's way forward as a cutting-edge modernist; Walker Evans's shadow self-portraits from 1927 mark the first inkling of a young writer's commitment to visual culture; and Cindy Sherman's intimate nine-part portrait series from 1976 predates her renowned series of "film stills" and confirms her striking ambition and stunning mastery of the medium at the age of 22.

Ms. Tenenbaum commented, "Photographs are mirrors and windows not only onto the world but also into deeply personal experience. Tom and I are proud to support the Museum's Department of Photographs and thrilled to be able to share our collection with the public."

The exhibition will feature a diverse range of styles and photographic practices, combining small-scale and large-format works in both black and white and color.  The presentation will integrate early modernist photographs, including superb examples by avant-garde American and European artists, together with work from the postwar period, the 1960s, and the medium's boom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and extend up to the present moment.

The Icelandic composer Davíð Þór Jónsson has written and produced an improvisational musical component for the exhibition that will be accessible on a Museum rental device and on the website at metmuseum.org/PhotosLastCentury.

Photography's Last Century: The Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection is curated by The Met's Jeff L. Rosenheim, Joyce Frank Menschel Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press ($45). Beginning with Paul Strand's landmark From the Viaduct in 1916 and continuing through the present day, the catalogue examines defining moments in the history of the medium.

The catalogue is made possible in part by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Inc.