L. W. Currey, Inc.

REILLY, JOHN JAMES (photographer). [Yosemite Valley] Washington Column and North Dome; height, 3568, Yosemite Valley. By J. J. Reilly. Albumen print. N.p. J. J. Reilly, n.d. [circa 1870s]. Cabinet card; print measures 15.5x10 cm (6 1/8 x 4 inches), mounted on buff card stock with distributor's name rubber-stamped on the verso: "C. Beach, / Books & Stationery, / 5 Montg'y St., S. F." John James Reilly (1838-1894) moved from Niagara Falls, New York to California in 1870. He established the first photographic studio in Yosemite Valley which he operated seasonally from 1870 to 1876. Reilly was one of the better California landscape photographers of the 1870s. He published an extensive series of beautiful views of Yosemite based more on the romantic style of Muybridge than the austere classicism of Watkins. For a summary of Reilly's career see Peter E. Palmquist, ed., J. J. Reilly: A Stereoscopic Odyssey 1838-1894 ([Yuba City, California]: Community Memorial Museum, [1989]). Light soiling to print (noticeable in the sky), mount lightly soiled on verso, very good. Reilly cabinet cards are uncommon. (#179763).