?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CALIFORNIA.) Vischer, Edward. The Mission Era: California under Spain and Mexico. 26 albumen photographs of Vischer's original drawings, each captioned in the image, on original heavy paper mounts. Housed in a contemporary full gilt morocco slipcase, 9 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches, quite worn with cover flap detached, stamped with name of original owner, the Rev. Ingraham Kip; minor wear to photographs, mounts slightly warped, each numbered in pencil on mount. Np, circa 1879
Vischer made a career of sketching California. He began in 1862 by publishing prints of his drawings, but became disenchanted with the lithographic process. His later sold photographs of his drawings, often in ad hoc assemblages like this, with no two the same. OCLC lists 4 other Vischer entries with this same title, but some have accompanying text, and include zero, 37, or 52 photographs. You can describe the present offering as unique or incomplete, depending on the general sunniness of your world view. The original drawings were done from 1861 to 1878, suggesting a production date soon after. They show Spanish missions (or their ruins) in San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Gabriel, San Jose and elsewhere. One shows General Andres Pico de Los Angeles at home in the former San Fernando Mission in 1865, with vaqueros roping cattle in the background (illustrated). This copy belonged to the Rev. Ingraham Kip, most likely William Ingraham Kip Jr. (1840-1902), a San Francisco clergyman.
