The Door in the Wall, and Other Stories 

H. G. Wells, author 
British, 1866–1946 

Alvin Langdon Coburn, photographer 
American, 1882–1966 

New York, Mitchell Kennerley, 1911 

NE2698 .C658d 

Best known for his photographic work in England, Alvin Langdon Coburn was born and raised in Boston.  

Wallflower 

Deborah Turbeville, photographer 
American, 1932–2013 

New York, Congreve Publishing Co., 1978 

NE2698 .T931w 

Fashion photographer Deborah Turbeville was born in Stoneham and educated in Boston. 

Alone Street 

Gregory Crewdson, photographer 
American, b. 1962 

New York, Aperture, 2021 

NE2698 .C927a 

Based in the Berkshires, Gregory Crewdson often composes his images in the former mill towns of Western Massachusetts. The photograph Alone Street, reproduced here in a volume of the same title, was taken in Pittsfield. 

Occupying Massachusetts: Layers of History on Indigenous Land 

David Brule, author 
American 

Suzanne Gardinier, author 
American, b. 1961 

Sandra Matthews, photographer 
American 

Staunton, Virginia, George F. Thompson Publishing, 2022   

NE2698 .M442 O33

Photographer Sandra Matthews lives and works in Northampton. David Bruhl, of Nehantic, Naragansett, and Huron/Wendat descent, was born in Montague and lives in Miller’s Falls. Suzanne Gardinier was born in New Bedford and grew up in Scituate. Together, their work in this volume documents the contemporary condition of Indigenous sites. 

RFK 

Paul Fusco, photographer 
American, 1930–2020 

New York, Aperture, 2008 

NE2698 .F993r 

Paul Fusco was born in Leominster. On assignment for Look magazine, he traveled aboard the funeral train that carried the body of Robert F. Kennedy from services in New York City to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC. Along the route, Fusco photographed the crowds who gathered trackside to mourn and pay their respects.  

The images were not published at the time and remained in storage until the book’s release three decades later. 

The Harlem Book of the Dead 

James VanDerZee, photographer  
American, 1886–1983 

Owen Dodson, poet 
American, 1914–1983 

Dobbs Ferry, Morgan & Morgan, 1978 

NE2698 .V242h 

Photographer James VanDerZee was born in Lenox. He is best known for his studio portraits that vividly document the Harlem Renaissance. His practice also extended to mortuary photography, creating commemorative images that honored the memory of loved ones at the time of their passing. In his own final years, VanDerZee revisited this body of work, assembling a selection of funerary photographs and pairing them with poetry by Owen Dodson for this book. 

Poem on facing page:
 
They lean over me and say:
"Who deathed you who,
who, who, who, who....
I whisper: "Tell you presently...
Shortly...this eveing....
Tomorrow..."
Tomorrow is here 
And you out there safe.
I'm safe in here, Tootsie.

The Country Dyer’s Assistant 

Asa Ellis, author 
American, b. 1756  

Brookfield, Mass., Printed by E. Merriam & Co. for the author, 1798 

NK8804 .E4 

Recognized as the first book on textile dyeing published in the United States, The Country Dyer’s Assistant argues that American commercial and home-based dyers lagged behind their European counterparts in the chemistry of cloth dyeing. Asa Ellis’s book sought to address this gap, offering practical recipes for producing stable and lasting colors often utilizing native plants.  

Florence Home Needle-work 

Nonotuck Silk Co. 
American firm, established 1832 

Florence, Mass., Nonotuck Silk Co., 1887  

NK9100 .N65f 

Founded in 1832, the Nonotuck Silk Thread Company began with a grove of mulberry trees planted by the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, a utopian commune that once counted Sojourner Truth among its residents. Silkworms fed on the mulberry trees, after which their silk was harvested and spun into thread that was sold to support the community.  

Although the association disbanded in 1846, silk production continued under the Nonotuck Silk Thread Company, then later as the Corticelli Silk Company, which grew into one of the world’s largest producers of silk thread. The company’s success was fueled by the development of machine-twisted thread, which made silk durable enough for use in the newly available home sewing machines.  

Fourth Annual Report of the South End Industrial School 

South End Industrial School  
Roxbury, Mass., established 1884 

Roxbury, Mass., South End Industrial School Press, 1887 

NE2606 .S677 

At the South End Industrial School, subjects ranged from sewing to cane weaving to carpentry. By 1887, one of the most popular courses was printing, which enrolled dozens of students, maintained a long waitlist, and even sustained itself financially by taking on printing jobs for local businesses. After just six months’ training, printing students could expect to secure employment, earning as much as three dollars per week, a significant wage for the period.  

The Theory of Color in its Relation to Art and Art-Industry 

Wilhelm Von Bezold, author 
German, 1837–1907 

Louis Prang, publisher 
American (born in Prussia), 1824–1909 

Boston, L. Prang and Company, 1876 

ND1280 .B4 E 

Louis Prang was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland) and traveled throughout Europe learning various trades, including engraving, textile dyeing, and printing, before immigrating to Boston in 1850. There, he established his own printing company, specializing in chromolithography––a technique that uses multiple lithographic stones to reproduce an image in full color. Prang became widely known for his fine art reproductions and, especially, for the small, colorful greeting cards he created for the holidays, earning him the nickname “the father of the American Christmas card.”  

Prang was also a passionate advocate for art education. He published instructional manuals for teachers and developed a formula for bright, safe watercolors for children, emphasizing the importance of non-toxic materials. Art supplies under the Prang name are still sold today, continuing his legacy of innovation and accessibility in education. 

King’s Hand-book of Boston  

Moses King, publisher 
American (born in Great Britain), 1853–1909 

Cambridge, Mass., Moses King, 1881 & 1885  

NA735 .B68 K56  

Moses King published travel guidebooks for a number of US cities, revising and reissuing them every few years. These two editions of King’s Hand-book of Boston, published in 1881 and 1885, feature images of the state-of-the-art Prang building and the Museum of Fine Arts at its original location in Copley Square. The building shown here was later demolished and replaced by the Copley Plaza Hotel, following the museum’s relocation in 1909 to its current home on Huntington Avenue.   

Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, vol. 2 

Frederick Gleason, publisher 
American (born in Germany), c. 1817–1896 

Boston, F. Gleason, 1852 

N1 .G54 

Modeled closely on the extremely popular Illustrated London News––even replicating its city skyline masthead––Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion was the first illustrated newspaper in the United States. Using cutting-edge techniques for rapidly producing woodblock prints, and relying on the expanding railroad network for distribution, Gleason’s reached a wide audience by blending local, national, and international stories with broad appeal. 

American Bookbindings in the Library of Henry William Poor 

Henri Pène du Bois, author 
American, 1858–1906 

Edward Bierstadt, photographer 
American (born in Prussia), 1824–1906 

New York, George D. Smith, 1903 

NE2698 .B588am 

Born in Solingen, Prussia (now Germany), Edward Bierstadt immigrated with his family to New Bedford as a child. A respected photographer, Bierstadt––along with his brothers Albert and Charles Bierstadt––became known as an innovator in photographic processes, particularly in the development of early color photography.   

Sample book of photogravures 

John Andrew & Son 
Boston, Mass., established 1869 

Boston, John Andrew & Son, ca. 1915 

NE2612 .J64 

John Andrew & Son was a leading Boston printing firm specializing in photogravure, as demonstrated by this sample book highlighting the precision and quality of their work. The volume includes examples ranging from photographic portrait reproductions to mechanical illustrations and product advertisements, printed in several ink colors on a variety of paper stocks.   

Negro Folk Tales for Pupils in the Primary Grades 

Helen Adele Whiting, author 
American, 1885–1959 

Loïs Mailou Jones, artist 
American, 1905–1998 

Washington, D.C., The Associated Publishers, Inc., 1938 

ND237 .J672.5n 

Loïs Mailou Jones was born in Boston, where she received her artistic education with degrees from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Design Art School. Jones then joined the faculty of Howard University in 1930, serving as professor of art until 1977. Negro Folk Tales was a collaboration with educator Helen Adele Whiting, a passionate advocate for improving the education of African Americans in rural areas. 

Through the Year with Thoreau: Sketches of Nature from the Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, with Corresponding Photographic Illustrations 

Henry David Thoreau, author 
American, 1817–1862 

Herbert Wendell Gleason, photographer 
American, 1855–1937 

Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1917 

N6505.6 .T46.1 1917 

The photographer Herbert Gleason was born in Malden and graduated from Williams College in 1877. He became especially known for his sensitive depictions of the natural world. 

Henry David Thoreau, another native son of Massachusetts, was born in Concord, where he spent much of his life. It was there, during his formative period at Walden Pond, that he wrote his influential reflections on nature, society, and self-reliance—ideas that continue to shape environmental thought today. 

“Excelsior,” in Christmastide: Containing Four Poems by Favorite American Poets 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author  
American, 1807–1882 

Winslow Homer, artist  
American, 1836–1910 

Boston, James R. Osgood and Co., 1878 

ND237 .M65.5C 

Winslow Homer, a native of Boston, began his career as an illustrator. His Civil War–era woodblock prints for journals such as Harper’s Weekly remain well-known today, but he was equally skilled in illustrating novels, poems, and novelty books. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Massachusetts (now Maine). He spent most of his adult life in Cambridge, where he taught, wrote, and published extensively, becoming one of the most celebrated poets of his time. Longfellow died in 1882, leaving a literary legacy that profoundly shaped American letters. 

An Island Garden 

Celia Thaxter, author 
American, 1835–1894 

Childe Hassam, artist 
American, 1859–1935 

Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1894 

ND237 .H3.5i 

Childe Hassam was born in Dorchester. He studied at local art clubs in Boston, where he had his first exhibition in 1883. Initially trained as an illustrator, Hassam pivoted to painting and became a leading figure in American Impressionism, celebrated both for his New York cityscapes and for his picturesque New England seascapes and village scenes. 

Fragments of Travel, Exploration and Adventure 

Mark Dion, artist 
American, b. 1961 

Paris, M. Dion, 2007 

NB237 .D56.8f 

Mark Dion, born in New Bedford, is a conceptual artist recognized for using methods of scientific display to explore humanity’s past and present relationship with the natural world. Fragments of Travel, Exploration and Adventure adopts the form of a naturalist’s field journal, cataloguing the flora and fauna of a fictional landmass.