Wyatt came home today and said “Let me show you what I have . . .”
He brought in a big book–like an oversized Atlas. But it wasn’t an Atlas. It was William Henry Jackson’s Rocky Mountain Railroad Album: Steam and Steel Across the Great Divide. A photographic book full of 16×20 prints of the American railroad landscape from the 1800’s.
Wyatt decided to look it up on the internet, finding copies anywhere from $500 – $1000. (It was a limited edition printing). Our copy is in really great shape–no bent pages, or fading. It doesn’t even look like it’s spine has been opened, and other than a lot of dust on the leather cover, it’s in great shape!
But alas, my general love for photography, books, history, AND old things, all will keep Wyatt from cashing in on his trove. It’s like the first edition Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls that I found in a thrift store several years ago, and bought for 50 cents . . . it’s just one of those things.
AND, while I was on the internet looking up this book, I also looked up Touchstones and Structure, two Tillman Crane limited edition books that I have dedicated copies of (Tillman is my photographic mentor)–those books are now both in the $500 range as well. Not that I would ever sell any of these books, but it’s kinda fun to know.