Lot 156: LINCOLN, Edwin Hale (1848-1938). Wild Flowers of New England. Pittsfeld, Ma

LINCOLN, Edwin Hale (1848-1938). Wild Flowers of New England. Pittsfeld, Massachusetts, 1910-1914. A very rare complete set of Lincoln’s superb modernist floral photobook. Lincoln’s obsessive project to capture the fora of New England produced this masterpiece of 20th-century photography. A transitional fgure in botanical photography, Lincoln’s work combines the philosophical outlook of the Transcendentalists with a cool aesthetic modernism. “With slow looking, each [print] becomes a marvel of order and ornament. Nature itself emerges as an artist of infnite inventiveness … Like Thoreau, [Lincoln] had a reverence for nature that was as uncompromising as his coolly objective vision” (Johnson). His use of the platinum process, along with close-up shots against fat backgrounds, resulted in tonally complex images with remarkable depth. Lincoln began work on this series in 1904, frst producing a three-volume set with only 75 plates. The project continued for another ten years, culminating in this edition of 400 prints. Lincoln printed and assembled the individual parts himself, producing a special set for each subscriber. Only two other complete copies have sold at auction in the last 30 years, according to ABPC and RBH. See William F. Robinson, A Certain Slant of Light: The First Hundred Years of New England Photography and Ken Johnson, “Edwin Hale Lincoln: ‘No Record so True’” (New York Times, 18 October 2002). Sixteen parts in eight volumes, folio (380 x 335mm). 400 platinum prints, each mounted on paper with letterpress captions. Original slate half morocco by The Oakwood Binders of Pittsfeld, MA, in original boxes with paper labels and all volumes in glassine wrappers except 4 and 8 (some wrappers chipped and tearing; boxes worn, sides perishing of box 8). Provenance: Boston Society of Natural History (gift labels from Susan Minns, H.S. Grew, M. H. Munro, David Pingree, and E.E. Norton, dated 1916, blindstamp). (8)