Did Your Book Arrive?

I almost forgot! A lot of people have been adding comments to the older posts and contacting me directly, so I thought I'd raise this flag here so we can keep all the relevant comments in one place, accessible to all...

...Did you get your book? And so what do you think?

There are still almost 200 copies left. Anyone who wants one can get half off by going to this link and then adding the code 19333 in the "Promotional Code" box on the left of the screen at checkout.

Here's the original post about the book.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

David Elesh: "Mike, I believe I ordered on Feb. 15. My credit card was charged on the 17th. I am still waiting to receive the book."

David Elesh: "Correction! It arrived moments after I wrote my post."

Mike replies: Synchronicity....

Larry Wilkins: "Hi Mike, I have not received the book yet. Should I be worried?"

Mike replies: No. Not yet.

Amend that: never be worried. Because if it doesn't arrive, for any reason, we'll send another one. You'll get it one way or another, sooner or later. So, no, don't be worried.

Burple: "I received my book and, wow! It's the first photography book I've ever purchased. I am delighted with it. What a bargain. Thanks for the recommendation and the opportunity, Mike!"

Mike replies: First one? Congratulations! That's a nice cornerstone for a new library.

You should thank Keith, the author, too. This offer was his idea originally.

Paul Metcalf: "Got mine, and currently on page 43. Incredible research. Question: there's a reference to a companion volume that covers the time period of photography prior to this volume. Does this exist and who/what/when/where, etc.?"

Mike replies: It's called The Origins of American Photography: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839–1885. I can't say much yet, but you might want to hold off buying that one for just a little while longer.

Joe Holmes: "I got mine, and the photo reproductions are terrific, but even better, the text is really well-written (as you said it would be, Mike). I've started at the last chapter, since that's what I'm most interested in, and I'm learning a lot about topics I thought I already knew. What a terrific resource."

Comments

[Kusandha]

Received the book this week. I've scanned it a bit and it looks great. Definitely happy that I bought it.

[Hugh Smith]

I was notified that my book did indeed arrive. Unfortunately, I had it shipped to our Stateside address and I cannot even crack it. (No, I am not ordering a copy for France...although it's a thought.
I will have to wait until I arrive back in San Diego to even open the durned thing.
I wait in anxious anticipation.
mi dos anxious pesos

[Steven Ralser]

I'll just add it again here. I got my book on Wednesday. It looks great - just will have to find the time to peruse it.

[Vnce]

I haven't received mine yet. Anxiously waiting.

[Malcolm Leader]

Yes, got mine and wow! You'll never pry this baby from my sticky hands! (Well, I would never handle a fine book like this if I weren't clean. Wonderful work and the prints are clear and detailed.

[Joseph Brunjes]

Haven't received my copy yet. Ordered it on Feb.15th. Not worried.

[John Camp]

Got mine.

[Wayne]

I did receive the book. In short order and well packaged. It should keep me occupied for a while.

[Ben]

Haven't got mind, either.

[Steve G]

Mike:

Got mine a couple of days ago. One very minor shipping ding on one corner, which bothers me not at all - books are for reading and the best ones look look honorably used after a while.

Both my partner and I are very happy with it. Excellent text (what I've read so far) and a good mix of familiar and less well-known images. Good quality reproduction.

And a screaming deal at this price.

Steve

[Dan Gorman]

The book arrived last Friday (Feb 26), if I recall correctly. It is beautiful, as advertised. I ordered the first day of the offer, and I live outside of Chicago (which is relatively close to Kansas City as compared with many TOP readers).

BTW, I also bought a copy of Peter Turley's Paris book as a Valentine's gift for my wife. Absolutely gorgeous, and she loved it!

Peace,
Dan

[Helio]

Got my book Tuesday March 1. Very beautiful.
Excelent bindings. Amazing photography!.

[Matthew]

Book received. Still looking for time to read it. I know I left some around here somewhere...

[Dave M]

Ordered about 5 minutes after the sale started, and received on Tuesday, March 1.

What a book!

[russell]

Got mine and the suggested bamboo book stand is perfect for it.

[Mike R]

Ordered, charged, on February 15th. Not yet received. How was it shipped? USPS? UPS?

[Andre Y]

Mine came yesterday, and I ordered it the first day of the announcement. I haven't opened it yet though as I have Nick Brandt's new book and Alexey Titarenko's The City Is a Novel ahead of it, and attended a talk by Salgado last night. It's an embarrassment of riches!

[Michael Cytrynowicz]

Arrived, and it is amazing!!!! - printing is fabulous.

[mike in colorado]

I have not received mine. ordered on the 15th of Feb. Haven't been worried. So far at least...

[Mark S Tierney]

Just unwrapped the book. Thank you for the heads up and the details about the discounted sale. Not a criticism per se, but the last image in the book is dated 1993. There really doesn't seem to be any digital output covered.

From page 454, "in 1990, Americans made some 17 billion conventional photographs, a volume of activity that cannot be quickly redirected from one technology to another." I believe mobile phone technology has surpassed that output. Again, thank you for the information about the book sale.

[Hi Mark, The book was first published in 1995, so it makes some sense that the latest image is 1993. It starts in 1885, though, so you got more than the titular "Century's" worth. --Mike]

[Mike Plews]

I ordered on day one Andy book arrived about a week ago.

[Kurt Triebe]

Yep - got mine last week! Haven't had a chance to look at it much yet - but it's an impressive looking volume, for sure. Looking forward to digging in once I've got some free time.

[M. Howard Edwards]

I got mine awhile ago. It is dense!Superior value.

[Bill Tyler]

My book arrived yesterday, but I haven't even had time to open the box yet. I'm looking forward unboxing tonight.

[Wolfeye]

Well, I was expecting a different sort of book, so my disappointment is my own fault. The book has many obscure photos and the really famous ones, like Migrant Mother, appear in tiny illustrations rather than full page. Did not see the famous photo of the Hindenburg explosion at all.

This is a history book and lots of text. The photos are mostly uninspiring. It seems like a deliberate attempt to show lesser known works rather than present a comprehensive picture of twentieth century photography.

[Terry J]

Ordered on Feb. 16, but no book yet. Perhaps tomorrow, but if not, no worries. It'll get here when it gets here.

[NancyP]

It arrived last Friday. A quick perusal was enough to show me that the quality of reproduction is outstanding, the selection is by and large interesting, and the text may be above the usual run of "history of photography" textbooks. I will be ingesting it in small portions.

[Bob Dompe]

Arrived Tuesday in fine shape. Something to savor over the next few months and beyond.

[Kristine Hinrichs]

Not yet here in Milwaukee. I'll be patient.

[Patrick Cooney]

Yes, just as I was reading this post. Great timing!

[Lee]

Got mine this week. A book stand the week before. Cant wate for the next deal!

[psu]

I got mine two days ago. It's very large.

[Earl Dunbar]

I ordered right away, I don't know the date, but it arrived tout-de-suite, which is French for "Damn, that was fast!"

I haven't looked through the book yet more that a very few pages. To be honest, I only want to handle it with cotton gloves - it would be a shame to mar it.

[Vince]

Hah, I said earlier this morning that I hadn't received it, but it was waiting for me when I got home from work. Wow. This could keep me occupied through … well, through a long time from now.

[Bob Dales]

Got it on Feb 29. For the researcher the reference pages are terrific. For the practitioner it is a humbling experience if you thought your work was "never done before". This book is deep and wide, a true education.
Thanks Mike
bd

[Bob Dowd]

Received mine and started paging through it. This will keep me occupied for sometime and more. Thanks for putting this offer together!

[Bob Azzi]

I picked up my copy at the museum. It is handy to live in KC. There is an companion volume by the same author titled "the Origins of American Photography 1839-1885 From Daguerreotype to Dry Plate". I bought one to complete the set ($65). Both volumes are great additions to my collection and I am looking forward to continuing to read through them.

[Chuck Holst]

I ordered mine February 18 and received it today. Haven't had time to do more than skim here and there yet, but it looks fantastic.

[Tim]

I received mine here in Akron, Ohio 2 days ago. I've only had the chance to briefly leaf through it - but it looks quite nice on my coffee table.

[David Wagner]

Mine arrived about one and a half weeks after I ordered. It's an amazing book. I have books where the quality of prints are better, and I have books where the consistent greatness of the images is better, but I have no book with the breadth and depth of this book. I'm a historian by education, and perusing this book is like owning a time machine and exploring the wonderful and various story of America.

[Michael Perini]

Received the book, it's beautiful, a great reference, and a super bargain.
Thanks very much, for this !
m

[Harry Lew]

I've had the book for a few days now, and I'm loving it more and more. I'm even less angry about it being delivered in less than perfect shape due to bad packaging. Hey, these things happen (Amazon for a while there shipped art books without packaging, too). The important thing is I learned about a phenomenal photo book I wasn't aware of before and had an opportunity to buy it at an amazing price. So . . . thank you, sir!

[Luke]

Charged 2/17; received, well packed, about a week later. Yeah, a book stand would help.

I perused it, then saw several original prints from the book at the Booth Museum a few days later. This show is up through 3/20/16. I highly recommend it.

http://boothmuseum.org/anseladams/

[Terry Crooker]

Mine arrived a few day ago. Only had a chance to peek at it. What I see I really like. I plan to spend some time with it this weekend. Thanks, Mike for making this possible. Oh, and I ordered some coffee too. It has been shipped. I hope it arrives by this weekend. Good coffee and a great photo book...bliss.

[John Krumm]

Book received, and it will take a while to read. Very heavy, so reading it in bed is out. I might have to finally buy my first pair of reading glasses for it. The photos look great, but the book seems organized by the editing principle "1000 words is worth a photo." Not that I dislike words. I wonder if anyone has ever published a two volume set, one for the narrative, one for the plates, with the text volume smaller for easy handling.

[Maggie Osterberg]

It got here a couple of days ago and it is MAGNIFICENT!

[Steve Ducharme]

After just a brief perusal I suspect it will change my thought processes and photography for the better. And the delivered price was fantastic! Thanks for making the connections.

[Lois Elling]

Received mine on Monday but didn't get to open it until Tuesday. It's gorgeous. I don't know how I'll ever read it all, but I'm going to try. Nice text and beautiful photos - some familiar, but most are not. I'm glad that many photographers are represented by more than just one photograph.

[George Harding]

Ordered it the first day of the sale, received it March 1. I've only had a chance to skim through it - the quality of the reproductions seems very good. It's interesting to see work by less famous photographers. Definitely not another greatest hits collection.

[andy ilachinski]

Book received a few days ago in perfect shrink-wrapped form. Just a sensational resource, and a steal of steals for the bonus price! Thanks Mike :-)

[Lyon Fisher]

Mine arrived very quickly, in about a week. Love it. (My first phoo book as well). Thanks for the recommendation and I look forward to the next!

[MikeR]

Received today. Gosh, it's heavy!

[Justin Ting]

Got mine yesterday. Looks terrific!

[Jim Becia]

The book arrived today in "OK" shape - small dings and scuffs, the cover is scuffed and marred on the spine edge. While the printing and info look great, I must say that the packaging for this heavy book was absolutely horrendous. That the book arrived in OK shape is quite surprising. Mike,if they are going to charge $15 for shipping ($6.45 actual postage) and handling, they should at least make an effort to ship in a box/container that will protect the book. This basically had a piece of cardboard loosely wrapped around it with no padding, bubble wrap etc. Heck, even Amazon does as well, and that is not saying much. A suggestion, spend a buck or two on protecting the books.

[Archer]

Mine showed up yesterday, just a few days after ordering. Very, very nice, and a great resource.

[Curtis Brown]

Arrived last week in great condition. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful book.

[Mark JANNESS]

Arrived Mar 4. Concerned about the packaging but the book arrived in undamadged.

Look'n good just after a quick page thru

[Ed Kirkpatrick]

Got mine but it's home in Maryland. Will be there in few weeks. Looking forward to seeing it based on these comments. Thanks Mike for the opportunity!

[kevin willoughby]

My copy arrived yesterday, March 5. Packaging looked a bit slipshod, but the book was in perfect condition.

The day before I had tried to explain to my girlfriend the irony of Edward Weston: his pictures of naked women are anti-erotic, but his vegetable pictures are HOT. Today, I opened the book to Pepper #30, and suddenly she understood. She then started poring over the production quality of the book. (She's an editor of medical text books, so she knows a lot about how high cost books are created.) She is very impressed by the production quality. I'm very impressed by the quality of the images -- very rare to see book images that good.

[John Krumm]

Ok,I finally had a chance to really take some time with the book today, and while I still haven't dived into the text, the more I look at it the more impressed I am by the images. It has me opening Lightroom to see if I can twist curves around enough to come up with tones even remotely close to some of them.

[Russell Guzewicz]

Yes, I've got mine and it's a beaut. I thank you for that.

[Keith I]

My book arrived safely several days ago, but I have been so busy I haven't opened it yet. I hope to soon though.

[John]

Yes, and I was surprised at how quickly it arrived ... less than a week after I place my order. The quality appears to be excellent although I haven't had time to do more than browse the contents. On bonus to owning this volume is the workout I get each time I lift it off the table. Looking forward to spending more time with it ...

[LeftCoastKenny]

My copy arrived yesterday. I was astonished by the size & weight of it. A quick first glance through gives me the impression that the print quality is really very good. I'm anticipating many enlightening hours reading the text. I believe I've previously seen many of the photos included in this book but look forward to visiting them again. And again.

[AdamR]

I swung by Nelson Atkins last week and picked up a copy from the store. After taking in a few exhibits of course!
I've only browsed through it a couple of times but you've once again picked a winner. I can't wait until I have a free weekend to sit down and dig into it.
This is the fourth book I've picked up on your recommendation and all of them have been fantastic. Thank you for facilitating such a wonderful deal this time and I'm anxious to see what else you have up your sleeve!

Adam