Large Group of Works by the "World's First Wildlife Photographer"

Lay, (Colorado), ca. 1894-97. Group of 92 original mounted black and white photographs. Images in two formats: approximately half measuring 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (on 5 x 8 in. mounts), and the remainder 7 x 9 1/2 in. (on 10 x 12 in. mounts). All outdoor scenes featuring hunting of cougar, elk, or other big game subjects. Thirty-three plates published in Wallihan’s Camera Shots At Big Game (1901), including the title image “Leaping Cougar” (No. 12). Many titled and signed in the negative, with publisher's imprint on verso. Some with ownership signatures on verso. Condition varies; some examples creased, with damage or stains to mats. Lot also includes an issue of Outing magazine (January 1896).

A large group of hunting photographs by Allen G. Wallihan (1859-1935) and his wife Augusta, known as the world's first wildlife photographers.

Wallihan was a farmer for most of his early life, until he moved to the Colorado territory in 1880, where he eventually met his wife Augusta and settled in the town of Lay. By the late 1880s the couple became interested in the local wildlife, and together learned the arts of photography and printmaking so they could starting capturing images of the region's landscape. They published two compilations of wildlife photographs: Hoofs, Claws and Antlers of the Rocky Mountains (1894) and Camera Shots at Big Game (1901), the latter of which featured an introduction written by Theodore Roosevelt, who was a friend of the couple. Their works were so popular that they were invited to exhibit their photographs at the Paris World Exposition in 1900.

This collection descended directly through the family of Charles Ashley Hardy, an engineer and the owner of the Chatham Bars Inn, in Chatham, Massachusetts. In 1895, Hardy was a member of the Wells and Patterson hunting expedition that Wallihan accompanied when he took photographs for Camera Shots at Big Game. Hardy is credited with the killing of a cougar, and his story is told on p. 317 of the included issue of Outing magazine.

A rare and extensive collection of Wallihan wildlife photographs.