P3D Darrah's World of Stereographs

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I ordered this soft cover version from the publisher (as advertised
in the last issue of Stereo World).  It is a essentially a reprint of 
the 1st edition (not sure what makes a book be a second edition...)

Darrah has passed away a few years ago... In this "new edition" there
is a Preface by T. K. Treadwell, past president of NSA.  It is I read
the following interesting passage:

"Those familiar with the field are already aware of this book's few
shortcomings.  Most troubling for purists, perhaps, Darrah regarded
photographs as historical documents, not as works of art, so you must
look elsewhere for pretentious pontifications on aesthetics, or the
hidden meanings in an image.  Second, being practically blind in one
eye he couldn't really see in stereo, and therefore didn't have full
appreciation of the depth factor.  Finally, and to my mind the only
serious fault, he cut off his history of stereography with the end of 
production of card-mounted views, so the later formats such as
Viewmaster are not covered.  But even given these few faults, it
remains the place where one starts when dealing with stereoscopic
photography."

-- George Themelis


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