This book first peeked my interest when I saw that it was reported by our local paper that it was going to be released. The article in The Times Picayune showed some of the photographs from this book and I was amazed to see the way the city I know and love so well has changed so much over the years.
The book New Orleans 1867 is a collection of the remaining photographs taken by Theodore Lilienthal and they were compiled in to this book by Gary Van Zante. The original 150 photographs were taken by Mr. Lilienthal by commission of the civic leaders of New Orleans as a gift to the Emperor Napoleon III so that they could try to sell the city. It was sort of a tourism pamphlet if you will. The photographs show prominent New Orleans scenes and show the enormity of commerce that flowed through the city at the time. The methods of commerce were numerous and this books catches many of them. The photographs are of civic buildings, hospitals, banks, levees, docks and other areas of town that helped the country receive and ship their goods.
Not all 150 of the photographs survived. The 126 that were included in the book were the ones that survived. The original photographs were taken back to Paris by Napoleon III and exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1867. Once they were removed from there they were stored at the home of Napoleon III. Somehow these photographs ended up at the Napoleon Museum in Switzerland and that is where they were found and how they came to be compiled for this book.
The photographs are not only historical in nature but they show a city that has changed so much over these years and yet many of these buildings and areas remain in some form. I thought that this quote from Mr. Van Zante that was used in The Times Picayune story speaks volumes:
"New Orleans has been shaped by disaster more than perhaps any other major American city; certainly few cities in the country have been reconstructed more often. Floods, hurricanes, epidemics, fires, and war have for nearly three centuries imperiled the vulnerable, but resilient, city."
This is a city that I love and this is a book that I would cherish as a part of my collection. The book shows where I came from and it shows the things that make New Orleans one of the most interesting cities in the world. Enjoy!
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