The extensive collection of valuable photographs in this book and its text might be described as a visual record of our native land during that period, a record that has been lost to us since so many early photographs left Japan. With this book, Mr. Bennett has performed a significant service in encouraging people today to reconsider those photographs' value.

Impressive overview of the history of Japanese photography between 1853 and 1912…Bennett has been collecting and researching the pioneering years of Japanese photography for 25 years…Essential publication for everyone interested in early Japanese photography.

Photography in Japan 1835–1912 took on a life of its own, and ended up falling into place as a true picture of photography in Japan, with all of its warts and formats shown in their ebb and flow during the first 60 years after the country came out of its centuries of sleep, and into the modern world…Readers who have a love for old photography in general, and stereo views specifically, will not be disappointed by this new portrait of old Japan.

Writer Bennett crafted this beautiful and educational book from a collection of 350 old and rare images captured by Western photographers. This book offers a glimpse of life in Japan during one of its most dramatic periods in history.

The book is a recent publication by Tuttle Publishing which gives quite an in depth and amazing look into both the photography at the time and also the photographers behind the scenes. As may be expected the first photographers tended to be foreigners to Japan who brought with them the early camera models.

Having lived in Japan for a long time, I was interested to think of what life must have been like as a foreigner back in late 1800′s pointing an unusual box type device at people and asking them to say “cheese”.

A lot of the book does cover the history of early photographers and many of the photos are portraits rather than landscapes. Not... See More