Secrets of the Dark Chamber: The Art of the American Daguerreotype Hardcover – June 17, 1995 by Merry A. Foresta (Author),
John Wood (Author). This Ex Lib copy is $40 postage included.

Secrets of the Dark Chamber contains 152 plates of hand-tinted daguerreotypes (many never before published) They include portraits, landscapes, and scenes of daily life produced in America from 1839 until the Civil War. Foresta, Smithsonian curator and organizer of the exhibition, discusses the immense popularity of the medium in America, while Wood assesses America's literary response to the invention. Selections from newspapers, magazines, and diaries provide firsthand accounts from artistic, scientific, and philosophical perspectives. The importance of daguerreotypes during the westward expansion and California Gold Rush is especially noteworthy.