James Presley Ball
1854, 1 April
Gleason's Pictorial Featuring Depiction of Ball's Great Daguerreian Gallery

Magazine page
Cowan's Auctions, Inc
An issue of Gleason' Pictorial Drawing Room Companion, Vol. VI, No. 13, dated Boston, Saturday, April 1, 1854. This lot includes only the cover leaves, still attached at the fold, and is notable primarily for it's description and engraving of Ball's Great Daguerrian Gallery of the West, which fills the entire back cover.
 
J.P. Ball was a successful African American daguerreotype artist in Cincinnati, and the article would be a nice companion to any collection of his sought-after photographs. It describes his opulent Cincinnati gallery, unsurpassed by any establishment in the Union, in incredible detail, and gives a short biography of the proprietor which, interestingly, omits any mention of his race.
 
LL/98567