Souvenir Kodak Competition 1905 by Stieglitz, Alfred; Edward J. Steichen; et al - [1906]

Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak Co., [1906]. First Edition. Trade Paperback . Near Fine. [14 leaves]; letterpress, offset lithography, and 10 mounted original photographs (including a vignette on the cover). Among the original photographs are prints by Eduard Steichen (Lady and Child, which won first prize in the contest; probably printed from a copy negative); Alfred Stieglitz (Soap Bubbles; believed to have been printed from the original negative); and Harold Baker (The Fairy Tale, 're-developed', according to the caption). *** Kodak announced a large photography contest for 1905, looking to spur popular adoption of photography. The winning entries were shown in New York and other locations as part of a touring exhibit. The winning images mostly show the influence of the Photo-Secession movement. *** In addition to reproducing some of the winning entries, Kodak used this publication to showcase various types of photographic paper and processes. The papers used for the original tipped-in prints are Velvet Velox, Portrait Velox, Sepia Paper, Carbon Velox, W-D Platinum, and Mezzo-Tone. *** The Souvenir was apparently produced in small numbers, perhaps for the New York exhibit at Madison Square Garden Concert Hall in November 1906. In any case, it's rather uncommon now, with just four holdings in OCLC (nos. 4017664 and 195139087). The only sale at auction in recent years was Swann Galleries' 2013 sale no. 2335, lot 20, $5250. First edition (first printing). Complete with all tipped-in images. A near fine copy in wrappers. Corners a bit bumped; some offsetting from tipped in images to the blank facing pages. [JSP01; JSP04; JHG2019]