If you’re interested in the early history of photography then A History of Photography: the Musée d’Orsay Collection 1839-1925 is a must-have book for your bookshelf.

The Musée d’Orsay was the first fine arts museum in France to collect and display photographic images from the 19th and 20th centuries. Today the museum has an incredible collection of more than 50,000 European and American photographs.

The book is split into 13 chapters including themes such as portraiture, reportage, architecture, landscape and still life. Essays accompany photographs providing commentary on the development of photography as an art form as well as the technical advances of the time.

Some of the collection’s most treasured works are featured in the book including a portrait of the French poet Baudelaire by Nadar and the recently acquired portrait of Man Ray by Alfred Stieglitz.

A History of Photography is a very beautiful book which every discerning photographer should consider for their bookshelf.

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