[World War I]. [Military Photography]

[Extensive Photograph Album Documenting the U.S. Signal Corps in Europe in the Final Months of World War I]

[Various locations in Europe: 1918]. 200 silver gelatin photographs on 100 leaves, 5 x 7 inches. Folio. Contemporary leather album, cover gilt. Heavily worn and chipped, hinges partially perished. Images mounted to thick black paper, two per page; each numbered and captioned. Contents clean with minimal wear, some images slightly faded. Very good. Item #1965

A substantial photograph album containing 200 captioned images produced by the United States Signal Corps during the final months of World War I. The volume opens with an image titled "The Yanks are Coming" which shows doughboys being transported on a ship to Europe, but jumps almost immediately into combat. Numerous images through the work highlight the immense death and destruction caused by the fighting, including scenes of war-torn battlefields littered with corpses and obliterated towns in France, Italy, and Austria. Other images depict soldiers in brief moments of respite or repose, as well as actively engaged in combat or medical work. Additionally there are images of gas attacks and graves; captured German soldiers; closeups of dead enemy soldiers and downed flying aces; numerous shots of the fallen; aircraft and artillery pieces; scattered images of the affected civilian populace; brutal scenes from No Man's Land; and much more. Several of the photographs depict cameramen at work; one such caption on photo 18 reads: "THE MOVIE MAN...Capt. MacDonald taking a movie of the 6th Field Artillery being shelled out of position -- Exermont, France." Perhaps most notable are the photographs of the Meuse-Argonne offensive and the Second Battle of the Piave River, which together account for a large portion of the images in the album. The images are each numbered with accompanying captions, often denoting the location and sometimes providing the specific unit involved in the scene.

The Signal Corps' Photographic Section was established in July 1917 and was responsible for all photographic coverage of American participation in the Great War. The Corps, whose job was to create a visual record of events, documented all aspects of the war from civilian rescue and assistance to work on the front lines, and even aerial imaging, as well as capturing the darkest moments of the battle on film. Photographs were developed and printed at the front, and the section moved operations from St. Ouen to a lab in Vincennes in February of 1918, presumably where the majority of this album was developed. By the Armistice the section had grown to include over 500 men, having started with only twenty-five the previous year. A unit was assigned to each division and included a still photographer, a motion picture cameraman, and an array of assistants. A stark and moving record of World War I, capturing the horrors and humanity of war on film.

Price: $3,000.00