Henri Le Secq's Camera Purchased

[Alex Novak]

I just purchased noted French pioneering photographer Henri Le Secq's camera.  Here are some of the details.

Henri Le Secq: The Photographer's Camera and Equipment. , 9.44 x 11.81 in. (240 x 300 mm), a wooden camera attributed to the photographer Henri Le Secq and coming from his family with an invoice for it made out to Le Secq.  It is 24 x 30 cm and has vertical and horizontal lifts and swings, a black bellows, and a ground glass with handwritten pencil formats from 9 x 12 to 24 x 30 cm.  The camera is missing the lens.  There are two camera backs marked "Gilles Brothers" 24 x 30 cm and numbered in their carrying case.  Also comes with a printing frame 38 x 28.5 cm. The group includes an invoice to M. Le Secq from the "Gilles Brothers" dated July 17, 1871.  Provenance: the photographer's family; Jakobowicz & Associés Auction.

Henri Le Secq was one of the most important early photographer's of the 19th-century.  He was one of only four photographer's chosen by the French government to be a part of the Mission Heliographique project of 1851-52.