History of Photography. From Talbot to Stieglitz: Masterpieces of Early Photography from the New York Public Library by Julia Van Haaften.

Thames & Hudson, 1982. 1st edition.  An illustrated guide to some of the outstanding holdings at the NYPL, this volume is also invaluable for the articulate essay by the photo curator Julia Van Haaften. Photographers illustrated include William Henry Fox Talbot, Alinari, Édouard Baldus, Maxime Du Camp, Francis Frith; Alvin Langdon Coburn (two views of London taken for Henry James), Alexander Gardner and other Civil War views by George Barnard and Timothy O’Sullivan; Alfred Stieglitz, Lewis Hine, John Thomson (19th century views of Thailand) and Japanese vignettes by Felice Beato; Native Americans by Edward S. Curtis, Frank Sutcliffe, Muybridge, Bernard Shaw, and many others. Hard cover, fine with very good dust jacket that has a short closed tear near the top front edge.