COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHS: A Guide to the New Art Boom

Taking a flyer on the newest art ""collectibles"" still boils down to doing your homework, selecting a reputable dealer, and having ""a good eye""; but the novice-the merest beginner--could pick up a few talking points and some guidelines from the scraps of (published) expert opinion pieced together here. A snap history of photography and photo collections, tips on kinds of photos to consider (from old postcards to fashion plates), advice on storage and conservation, a recap of the pros and cons of color, price information and investment safeguards: these are major constituents. Plus what every prospective purchaser puzzles over: what ""the supposedly unlimited supply of prints from a negative"" really means. The Dennises appear to have no views of their own--aesthetic or otherwise--that would qualify them as instructors, so perhaps it's not to be wondered why anyone so uninformed about photographs as to need their help would be assembling a collection to start with.