Virginia Beautiful

Framingham, MA: Old America Company, 1930. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good. Wallace Nutting. 306 pages. Illustrations. Interesting Visitation Points. Index. Ink notation on fep. Some cover wear. Illustrated by the author with three hundred and thirty pictures of landscapes and Dwellings. Wallace Nutting (November 17, 1861 - July 19, 1941) was a U.S. minister, photographer, artist, and antiquarian, who is most famous for his landscape photos of New England. He also was an accomplished author, lecturer, furniture maker, antiques expert and collector. His atmospheric photographs helped spur the Colonial Revival style. He suffered from neurasthenia, and turned to bicycling as a means of relaxation and improving his health. It was on these bicycle rides in the countryside that Nutting started taking photographs. In 1904 he opened the Wallace Nutting Art Prints Studio on East 23rd Street in New York. After a year he moved his business to a farm in Southbury, Connecticut. In 1912 he moved the photography studio to Framingham, Massachusetts, in a home he called "Nuttinghame". That year he published a catalog of prints that was 97 pages and included about 900 images. Nutting's photographs ranged in subject and price. His catalog included pastoral scenes such as views of abbeys, cathedrals, bridges, mountains, flowers, and winding roads. One of his most common themes was "Colonials", which were photos of women in traditional 18th-Century roles. These were traditional pictures of femininity, usually pictured indoors in front of a chest, chair, or looking glass. Nutting authored several books about the scenic beauties of New England, Virginia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.