(MICHIGAN) Adolph F Isler; photographer Group of large forma

Sale 2546 - Lot 147

Price Realized: $ 625

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(MICHIGAN.) Adolph F. Isler; photographer. Group of large-format photographs of northern Michigan. 34 albumen prints about 7 x 9 inches, many captioned in the negative, on original 10 x 12-inch mounts with penciled numbers in upper margins, most with the photographer's "Lake Superior--Copper Country Views" backmark; moderate foxing, minor wear, a few chipped corners on mounts. Lake Linden, MI, 1895-96 and undated

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The photographer Adolph F. Isler (1848-1912) emigrated from Switzerland as a young boy. In the 1900 census he was listed as a "dealer in mineral specimens" at Lake Linden near the northern tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, an area known as Copper Country for its numerous mines. Most of these large-format photographs depict the area near Lake Linden. One is captioned at length in the mount, a well-known image of the Osceola Mine Fire which took 30 lives in 1895. Dozens of miners are posed for a group portrait in front of the still-smoking shaft. The caption includes a "List of Persons who Lost their Lives" arranged by nationality: "Cornish miners," "Finns and Norwegians" and "Poles and Austrians." Another photo with a manuscript caption shows Port Arthur across Lake Superior in Ontario, later absorbed into the city of Thunder Bay. Several are views of downtown Lake Linden, and others show the nearby villages of Eagle Harbor, Red Jacket (now Calumet) and further-afield Marquette, as well as industrial scenes at Wolverine Mine, Copper Falls Mine, Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, and Tamarack Mine. 5 depict the excursion liner SS Christopher Columbus at Hancock, MI, thought to be the largest vessel on the Great Lakes at the time, and the only passenger ship ever built using the distinctive "whaleback" hull design.