This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/21/2024
[PHOTOGRAPHY]. [RELIGION]. [ALBERT, Joseph (1825-1886), photographer). JACKSON, John P. Album of the Passion-Play at Ober-Ammergau. Being Sixty Albumen Prints of the Scenes and Tableaux of the Passion-Play, Taken by Command of His Majesty King Ludwig II of Bavaria, by the Court-Photographer Albert, of Munich; A Series of Etchings, in Heliotype, from the Pen and Ink drawings of “The Homes of Ammergau,” by Eliza Greatorex, and Engravings on Wood. Munich and London: Joseph Albert, 1874. Folio. Illustrated with 60 Albumen prints, including frontispiece. (8), iv, (1), 194 (2) pp. Approximately 12 ½ x 10”. Bound in near contemporary textured cloth boards, rebacked and re-cornered in modern burgundy levant morocco, spine ruled, tooled, and lettered in gilt in compartments, five raised bands, contemporary floral endleaves (some rubbing to binding, endleaves worn and soiled, gutters between free endleaves and blanks repaired, hinges reinforced, perforated library stamp (“Forbes Library Northhampton Mass”) on title-page, ink library stamp of the Forbes Library on the verso of the prints, ink date stamp (“Aug 31 1911”) on the Preface page. Still, near fine. FIRST EDITION, ONE OF ONLY 200 COPIES, OF THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHIC TESTIMONY OF THE OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY. Every ten years since 1634 the villagers of Oberammergau have staged a dramatization of the New Testament story, having pledged to do so in a bid to secure divine protection from the plague. By the later nineteenth century it had become a major tourist attraction, with visitors from across Europe making the journey to the Bavarian Alps to witness the play, which ran for several hours and involved many hundred actors, drawn entirely from the town. The present work, one of the earliest photo series, captures the event of 1871 in all its size and spectacle, with sixty scenes from the play illustrated with 60 Albumen prints. The photographs were taken by the publisher Joseph Albert, the personal photographer of Louis II. of Bavaria. “60 Albumen photographs of the play by Joseph Albert. Jackson petitioned the King to allow him to order 200 sets of these photographs for this edition...The sixty albumen prints show all of the principle tableaux of the Passion Play.” (Hanson Collection catalog, p. 48). Contents include chapters of the rise, development and decline of religious drama, the historical background of the passion-play, the village and people of Ober-Ammergau; the story of the play, a description of the Ammergau Theater, and a photographic documentation, including the text and songs of the chorus by John P. Jackson. Complete list of the albumen prints available upon request.