20

John A. Mather

1829-1915

Mather's Historical Oil Region Views of Western Pennsylvania, Parts 1 & 2. 1895.

Linen-backed printing-out paper prints (24) in albums (2)
With Mather's captions in the negative, some with additional captions in manuscript.
Two parts in two volumes. Oblong folio, gilt-lettered cloth, just lightly worn; letterpress titles to each part, two preliminary leaves of text in part one.
The images 9 3/4 x 12 1/2 in. (24.8 x 31.8 cm.), and smaller

  • Notes:
    The present works were made and published by the pioneer photographer of the Pennsylvania oil fields, John A. Mather. The first oil well in the United States was drilled by E. L. Drake in Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, near Titusville, in 1859. On the 29th of August oil was struck. John A. Mather, a recent English immigrant and aspiring photographer, heard of Drake's discovery and the ensuing oil rush, and moved to Titusville in October 1860. He set up a gallery, built a floating photo studio, and over the next forty years compiled an exhaustive photographic record of the growth of the oil industry. The present photographs, many richly-printed with stunning details, were created in 1895 from earlier negatives.

    OCLC locates four copies of part one, and only one of part two.
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