GUEST: This is a book, a thesis project from undergraduate school. It is called Concerning America, Alfred Stieglitz, and Myself, by Emmet Gowin. It was a gift to me in 1965. Emmet is a close friend, he and his wife.
APPRAISER: Uh-huh
GUEST: He gave it to me and my husband as, as just a gift. I met Emmet on the campus of Richmond Professional Institute. He and my husband were apartment mates and best friends. My husband and I got married in 1964, and two weeks later, my husband was Emmet's best man. Emmet forgot the wedding ring. So my ring was used to marry Emmet...
APPRAISER: (exclaims)
GUEST: ...and his wife, Edith Morris.
APPRAISER: Oh, my gosh!
GUEST: Emmet was like a big puppy.
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: And he was always happy, in perpetual motion. Not at all arrogant. He was excited about everything going on around him, and that's why he had his camera with him at all times.
APPRAISER: Emmet Gowin is a very, very important and famous 20th-century American photographer. His work is housed in many, many museums around the country and the world, but this is essentially his very first publication. And this book in particular has actually been the subject of exhibitions in various places.
GUEST: Emmet wanted to photograph what was real.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: He never staged photographs.
APPRAISER: He is renowned for having this interest in trying to capture a distinct moment in a cryptic way, in a way that is a little ambiguous, and there's a, an open-endedness to it.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: I mean, like, a picture like this, which could be interpreted as ominous and, and threatening or could be a pantomime, or a Halloween costume.
GUEST: You're right.
APPRAISER: And it brings this sort of ambiguity which he's very well known for. And this emerges in this first production that we have from his undergraduate thesis. Um, and here we have some young African American children in a church. Whether they are chosen to be portraits or not is a matter of uncertainty. There are, as I believe, 14 prints in here...
GUEST: There are 14.
APPRAISER: ...that he, that he selected for the publication.
GUEST: We were responsible for our thesis projects, and he had it printed in Richmond. These prints are all tipped in, made from photographs with his Leica camera, usually.
APPRAISER: Right. And I think what's quite fascinating about this is, he's added a, a, a, a pen-and-ink sketch to the cover. We see here writing that is "an aerial view of the park."
GUEST: Yes
APPRAISER: And we see that we have what appears to be a photographer with a camera floating up above a scene in a park in, I assume, in Danville, Virginia. Possibly Richmond.
GUEST: Or Richmond. When we were in school, there was a park nearby with benches.
APPRAISER: We know that, from the historical record, that he only produced 100 copies. I assume that most of them were distributed to friends and family and acquaintances.
GUEST: I think so.
APPRAISER: And that's what makes these kinds of works so rare. Most of these are now in museum collections around the country, and it, it really becomes something that is truly very, uh, collectible for individuals interested in photography books. We only know of about ten copies that have ever come for auction...
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: ...um, in the last 40 years. Given its importance, the fact that it's the germinal work of one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, it would likely, at auction, conservatively, have a value between $20,000 and $30,000.
GUEST: Really? (laughs)
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: Oh, well, you know, I, I'm so glad for Emmet that it, that people are recognizing how wonderful his work is.
APPRAISER: Because of your long relationship with him, I assume you probably would keep it, in which case you might want to consider an insurance value. And that would probably be in the range of about $50,000.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Because they're so rare and hard to find, and they're basically irreplaceable.
GUEST: I'll take...
APPRAISER: So, uh, you may want to consider that if you hold onto it.
GUEST: Emmet and Edith are irreplaceable friends, and I certainly will take good care of it.
