The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs by Joan W Gandy

The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs by Joan W Gandy

Life on the Mississippi in the heyday of the steamboat lives in our imaginations through the artistry of Mark Twain, Edna Ferber, and Hollywood films, or perhaps a glimpse of a salvaged riverboat living out its last years as a theme restaurant. Surely the Mississippi steamboat era is among the most colorful and romantic in our history. But what was it really like, beyond our secondhand notions of stalwart river pilots, wayward boys and runaway slaves, of gamblers in tall hats and ladies in hoopskirts, of cotton, cakewalks, and carpetbaggers.
This extraordinary book of recently discovered photographs, taken by a father and son who were professional photographers in Natchez, Mississippi, brings us for the first time a stunning array of images of steamboat life as it really was -- from its glory days in the post-Civil War era to its demise in the years immediately following World War I.
The photographers are Henry Norman and his son Earl. With boundless enthusiasm and curiosity, and the consummate skills of pictorial artists, they captured the beauties and rigors of a half-century of life on the Mississippi. Their priceless legacy has been preserved by Joan and Thomas Gandy, who recently acquired the extremely rare and valuable negatives and here present a collection of 170 of the most spectacular and arresting photographs of steamboat life.
Together with an extremely informative text, replete with detailed information and fascinating anecdotes, the photographs make up a splendid account of the major steamboats that plied the great waterway and their essential social and economic role in river life. Vivid, beautifully composed images of stately ships, luxurious interiors, shipboard life, picturesque river towns, busy landings, paddle wheelers laden with cotton and other cargoes, and the disasters that claimed so many of these proud craft, comprise a stunning firsthand account of a long-lost -- but now accurately, lovingly recaptured -- way of American life.

Gandy, Joan W.: - Dr. Thomas H. Gandy has spent the last four decades working with the thousands of glass-plate negatives these legendary photographers left behind. The result is a collection that he and his wife, Joan W. Gandy, have showcased the world round. A writer, editor, and publisher for more than 25 years, Joan W. Gandy brings the stories behind these images to life in an engaging narrative. Together with its companion volume, Natchez: City Streets Revisited, this book is a must-read and a must-see for Natchez residents, fans of early American photography, and anyone captivated by the nostalgia of yesteryear.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780486252605
ISBN 10	0486252604
Title	The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs
Author	Joan W Gandy
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Dover Publications Inc.
Year published	2003-03-28
Number of pages	128
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.