Books offered by JF Ptak Science Books

Making THings Disappear: German POWs, 1918

ITEM:  Original News Photo Service photograph, 1918.  8x9 inches.  Very good condition.  $275.00

In continuing series of posts on Blank and Empty Things is this image on fading, disappearing German prisoners of war.  The French had been pounding them in western France in the summer of 1918, and Germans were surrendering and being captured by the thousands.  This news service photograph shows one of the assembly camps with about 10,000 POWs--I made a heavy scan of the group of soldiers in the distance and was  a little taken aback to see that the men had lost their human forms,  looking like bacteria, fading into their future.  

The full image is impressive, and shows just a small fraction of the men taken prisoner during 1918; and it shows even a lesser percentage of those killed.

This detail of the foreground shows the familiarity necessitated by the men being pressed so closely together--there was little free ground.

Also, I thought that the French soldiers in the midst of the prisoner might've been feeding them, but it seems as though they were just walking in their midst.

World War I in Ivory--Pianos and Recovery

ITEM 1:  original 1918 photograph, 6x8 inches, piano playing for U.S. soldiers in hospital.  $150.00

ITEM 2:  original 1918 photograph, 6x8 inches, four U.S. servicemen singing at piano.  $150.00

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 1409

These images come from my collection of World War I news photo service photographs, and are among the minority that show even momentary happiness.  In both of these cases, the emotion resolves itself in song and in the piano.  The first image takes place in a U.S. overseas hospitals for wounded soldiers, and they seem genuinely relieved to have the attention and the entertainment. (Both images are available at our blog bookstore.)

The second image is dated 2 November 1918--just nine days before the armistice--and shows the "Broadway Quartet" as they rehearse "I'm Only a Buck Private" for a behind-the-lines show for U.S. servicemen, somewhere in France.  The note with the image (from the Western Newspaper Union) says that the staging used for their shows came from found wood, bits of flooring, and camouflage netting torn into pieces.  

The Face of Defeat, the Philippines, 1907

ITEM: mounted photograph of Papa Faustino, 8x6 inches. Rare. $1250

This is what defeat looks like, or at least so it did in the Philippines in 1907, when the revolt against the Spanish and the Americans was finally at end, for the insurgents. 

 Ablen Faustino (fl. 1880-1907), Philippine religious and resistance leader, was still fighting against the  American government seven years after the U.S. had claimed victory over the Spanish in the Philippines, and represented the last bit of Philippine resistance to American occupation and sovereignty.  There are many stories regarding his final disposition—some of which having the man escape into the woods to die an old man—but from the look of Faustino in this picture it seems as though he was going nowhere, except for a short walk into the heart of darkness that would swallow him just after the photo was taken.

On the one Faustino was a terrorist; on the other he was a patriot and holyman fighting for his country.  He had fought the Spanish occupiers in the 1880’s until he was captured and imprisoned.  After his release and following the American victory, he founded a religious/insurgent group—the Pulahans--whose ultimate religious experience was to defeat the invaders or die trying.  (From where I sit it seems as the requisite belief was death in battle for this struggle rather than the actual victory which was the benefit to the followers.) The Pulahans for the most part eschewed firearms and other “modern” weapons, launching themselves into battle with bolos, knives, and little else, hoping for hand-to-hand fighting.  It is reported that there were 10,000-15,000 of these troops, making them a formidable army,  frightening if you were one of the soldiers that they were going to attack.

These post-war Pulahan Wars lasted from 1902 to 1907, ending with their leader’s capture by Philippine Constabulary and the 8^th U.S. Infantry.One of the few official reports on Faustino’s capture was recorded in a legal document regarding jurisprudence in the arrest of the others who were with him that day.  In U.S. v. Espiridion Rota et al (found in the Supreme Court Reports of the Philippine Islands, volume IX, published in Manila in 1908), the unfortunate story of the application of law to the other five men is told, as is the mention of Faustino’s capture.  It turns out that when the others were taken into custody and the wheels of justice began to turn, they all pleaded guilty, and charged with the crime of brigandage.  Rota was sentenced to hanging and the others to imprisonment for 35 (+) years.  Plus court costs.  Their case was appealed because it was said the men had no idea what the guilty plea would get for them in the punishment phase; the Supreme Court upheld the conviction as well as the discipline, which was a little moot for Rota as he had already been hanged.

What one might infer from this, I think, is that Faustino’s date with his punishment was probably met right there by the hut in which this photo was taken; that his destiny was sealed; and that rather than martyr a religious leader, the troops merely took the severely wounded  (and beaten?) man into the woods and disappeared him. 

According to the historical sites which have used the other two photos of mine of this event (all done freely and without attribution, unfortunately), these are the only known photos of Faustino’s last times. 

Another version of the capture of Faustino is less shining:

 

The Children's Parade, the Liberation of Ostende, 1918.

ITEM:  original news photo service photograph, Underwood and Underwood, 1918.  7x9 inches.  Very good condition.  $200    Ref:  JF Ptak Science Books   Post 1393

Ostende, a port city of West Flanders on the North Sea in  northwestern  Belgium, was an important stronghold and also a  key to holding the inland port of Bruges, which is something that the Germany Army was able to do until the very end of World War I.  Under constant occupation by an invading force, the city was only liberated by the armistice signed two days before this photo was made, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. 

Some of these children might still be alive, though all but two of the soldiers of this war are all dead.  I remember talking to my grandmother ten years or so ago, asking her about what she did to celebrate the end of the war.  She laughed, and then told me that she and her sisters and brothers went out to the street (in their small town of Housatonic, Massachusetts) and danced and danced.  She then said that a few other children went to their kitchens to come out with pots to bang with wooden spoons--and then it struck me, taking away my breath, that what she was talking about was celebrating the end of WWI, not WWII, which is what I thought she was going to talk about. 

Cold and Understatement on the Western Front, 1916

JF Ptak Science Books 

ITEM:  Original news photo service photograph, a Canadian Official War Photo courtesy of the Western Newspaper Union. 1916.  8x6 inches.  Fine condition.  $125

The caption stamped on the back of the news photo service agency photograph (from the Western Newspaper Union) said that the bitter cold encountered by these Canadian soldiers ont he Western Front in the winter of 1916 "was one of many difficulties encountered by the soldiers".  "Great hardships have been caused by the frigid weather in this region" continues the caption.  Indeed.  Even for Canadians this was a cold winter, though not so cold that the Canadian trooper in the foreground stopped to put on his gloves to remove the ice from the water trough. These soldiers may have been cavalry, as there is a horse-like medallion on the front of their lids. 

Evidently the role of the cavalry in the BEF along the Western Front is an under-appreciated thing, or misunderstood, at least.  I'm not sure how they influenced the outcome of this stagnant section of the war, where the line of battle remained essentially unchanged throughout the duration of the war.  Millions of troops were deeply entrenched over hundreds of miles of battlefront, wailing away at one another with massive artillery barrages, countless machine gun nests, and then eventually tanks, planes and poison gas.  Back in February 1916 there weather was so tough and frigid that the battle of Verdun was postponed a bit, waiting for less intense weather conditions.  Dozens of millions of artillery shells and  billions of bullets later, in 1918, there was little change in the positions of the armies, except of course for the millions of casualties. 

 

Abe Lincoln in June, 1860

ITEM:  G.B. Ayres 1881 albumen photograph of Abe Lincoln, from Alexander Hesler's original glass negative of 1860.  8.5x6.5 inches.  Good condtiion.  $500

 

JF Ptak Science Books   Post  1391

Abe Lincoln, 1860.  I don't know how he held everything together.  He was a master tactician, held conflicting and opposing thoughts in his mind and in his cabinet, was incredibly shrewd, and had a deep insight into the future.  He was still, even into 1862, a mocked character, even by his closest associates.  And generals--G.B. McClellan, for example, the general who never should have been actually in charge of an army outside of training it, never should've been in the field, never should have been given the opportunity to work more for the opposition than for the Union, saw Lincoln as a buffoon, a nuisance in his own supra-egotistical path to national office.  Lincoln not only survives all of this, but conquers .  I would love to see a two-person play of Lincoln at chess, from the point of view of the chess pieces. 

I'm posting this as I am getting ready for a Civil War-in-the-newspapers, day-by-day, as we approach the 150th anniversary of what was the great defining moment in the history of the United States. 

THis 8.5x6.5 inch image was made in 1881 by George .B Ayres from the original glass negative made by Alexander Hesler's photograph of Lincoln at Springfield, Illinois, 3 June 1860.  (Ayres had come into possession of Hesler's studio and negatives after Hesler's death.)

And the detail:

And deeper:

 

 

Ephemeral Uniqueness in Large Crowds, 1917

ITEMS:  two WWI  news photo service original photographs, as follows:

ref:  JF Ptak Science Books  Post 1390

There are 1500 or so of these news service war photographs here, and one of the remarkable things that I've discovered about them--trivial things to be sure compared with their overall message, ephemeral bits of semi-nothing--is that in many of the very-large-group images that there is sometimes just a single person who is doing something that no one else is doing, and it has been captured almost forever in the photo.  There are photos of thousands of troops, all facing east, with on solitary soldier facing west; there's the solitary waver; there's the one bare-headed man in  a sea of a thousand men with hats; there's the one person raising his hat to the photographer in a sea of people looking at the camera but not raising their arms.  Then of course there's the group photo of a mass of German WWI POWs, with only one soldier without a hat or helmet, and he looks just like me. 

Here are two other examples--the first is a detail from a photo showing British children cheering their American allies in 1917, showing one man clearly reacting to the hundreds of screams by covering his ears.  And is the only one doing so.  The second detail shows a large contingent of American soldiers leaving for Europe on a steamer--there is only one man  who turns to the camera and waves.

The second detail:

PHOTOGRAPH #1:  9x6 inches, 1917.  $125

The entire first image, showing the children cheering the raising of the two flags:

And this:

 

PHOTOGRAPH #2:  10x7 inches, 1917.  Very good condition.  $150.00

And the second, showing a group of hundreds of soldiers waiting to leave Hoboken, New Jersey, for the fight in Europe, 1917.  Most are pulling themselves inside their coats as much as possible; I suspect being right there on the harbor--and seeing the floating bits of ice in the water--that it was wet and very cold.  Our one adventurous Doughboy gives the camera a spread-fingered wave....he also seems to be quite tall.  He is the lone waver.  There also seem to be a lot of smiles in the crowd. 

 

World War I Photographs: Panorama, 1918

ITEM:  Originalnews photo service photograph, 10x8 inches, printed 1918.  Good condition. 

I recall, I think, that this was the largest photograph of war printed during World War I, looking to be something on the order of 8x16 feet or so.  This photo of the photo was printed by Underwood & Underwood, and stamped "British Official Photograph", printed sometime in 1918.  It seems that this is an actual battle scene, which was a very uncommon thing among war photographs for the Great War--more so for this group of photographs(News Photo Service)  produced by pool photographers for equal distribution among subscribing newspapers and periodicals. Actual combat photos distributed by the News Photo Service agencies were not a high priority, unless they depicted routed or retreating or being-defeated Germans--it was not a popularly-disributed subject, mainly for propagandist purposes.

I expect that this photo would've given the view a you-are-there effect, as the main characters in the composition were about life-sized--an attempt of slice-of-life experience.  There is a surprising amount of foreground in this picture, though.

World War I Photographs--Parade of Military Snow, 1917/1918

ITEM:  original news photo service photographic image, 8x10 inches, ca. 1917/1918.  $145.00

This news photo service image--stamped "Hearst-Pathe News Agency" on the back--is frm the winter of 1917/1918 and shows a patriotic snow parade somewhere in the United States.  The snow looks prodigious, judging from the piles in the foreground and also the accumulated snow on the windowsills, and I imagine that all of the snow floats were sculpted mainly out of exiting snow in the street.  It is a delightful scene, to me, and hosts a variety of smaller, lovely images in vignette. For example:

The man in shadow and sleeping figure (boy) in the buggy complement the white-mustachioed bowler-wearing man to the left; the men looking on in the foreground are interesting, too--plus there's that laundry in the background.  Given that the laundry is out (and wasn't just left out during the storm) and that no one seems to be particularly bundled up against cold, I'm going to guess that there was a break in the weather that pushed the temperature higher than normal, with almost everyone taking advantage of the warm snap, as people do everywhere, all the time.  I also like the tiny American flag on the tall pole at left.

And so:

And again:

I'm not sure what the flag is on the side of the Dreadnought, and it seems as though someone has stoked a small smoking fire in the metal tubes functioning as the ship's smokestacks--a nice touch!

Also I like this quickly-produced oil painting version of the photo--I knew that there was a very nice overall composition to the image, but really couldn't find it until I did this:

World War I Photographs--Fifth Avenue and Not Fifth Avenue, 1918

ITEM:  original news photo service photograph, Underwood & Underwood, July 1918, with original paper caption text.  8x6 inches, very good condition.  $225.00

 

This news photo service image (available from our blog bookstore) shows the action in "one of the busiest military centers on the British Western Front in France", with a British soldier using a traffic semaphore to take care of the hustle and bustle.  The caption--almost always supplied with these photos as they were made by a pool of uncredited photographers covering the war for a consortium of newspapers and paid subscribers providing images and content for paying media--reads that the picture "might well be taken for an everyday scene on Fifth Avenue, New York, if it weren't for the landscaping and the costumes". 

Indeed.  Actually, if you removed the landscaping, the vehicles, the background and the uniforms (clearly whoever wrote this copy had no feel for the fact that actors wear "costumes" and soldiers wear "uniforms"), and replaced it with paved roads, buildings on all sides, crowds of people and packed it all with automobiles and placed the scene on Fifth Avenue, then the scene would have looked like Fifth Avenue. 

On the other hand, even if it were never to look at all like Fifth Avenue this intersection would have been exceptionally busy from time to time; I'm sure it could have seen thousands of troops per day, particularly since the Brits fielded probably a million troops in this region alone, and those troops needed to be fed and cared for, which means there would've been a constant flow of people, and machines, and materiel. 

This is a fantastic photograph,though, though the captioning folks did it little justice. 

I can't quite make out the BEF-made sign in the background, placed for the use of the troops.