= Very rare illustrated oeuvre catalogue, the first of its kind and as such an incunable of photography. We could only locate 5 complete copies in public collections - our copy near-complete with only 5 plates lacking. Laure Boyer - Robert J. Bingham, photographe du monde de l’art sous le Second Empire - Études photographiques, no.12 (2002), p.127-147; Stephen Bann - Photographie et reproduction gravée, Études photographiques, no.9 (2001), p.22-43 (“C'est le premier ouvrage de ce type au monde”); Roosens/ Salau, History of photography 5141. Robert Jefferson Bingham (1824-1870) was an English pioneer photographer, mainly active in France, making portraits and reproductions of paintings. He is one of the first photographers to use and write about the collodion process, which he claimed to have invented. He was inspired to make photographic portraiture a commercial enterprise, and in 1857 he opened his new atelier in the Nouvelle Athènes quarter of Paris, one of the hotspots of artistic activity at the time. He became friends with many artists, photographing them and their works, and started on a new project, a photographic collection of the works of the recently deceased painter Paul Delaroche. Published in 1858, it was the first photographic catalogue raisonne. Lacking 5 plates and 4 accompanying text-leaves (plates 25, 46, 53, 61 and 78 (only text-leaf available)). Text-pages and mounts waterstained (not affecting the original photographs) and occas. frayed. Lower half section of printed text on verso portfolio worn away; portfolio strengthened on inside backstrip and lacks two (of 3) ties.