From a glance one could surmise that Ulster County lurched from decade to decade like a drunk constantly working to free itself of disaster. The truth is probably simpler. Accidents and fires were opportunities and local photographers captured them on film, the images probably worth good money. That makes Rondout both a lucky and unlucky place.
That they come down to us today while the vast majority of bucolic images go unnoticed is probably nothing more than that a burning house is more compelling than a smiling family, unless of course it’s your family.
Every town had the potential for photogenic events but the number of photographers interested and or able to take the pictures and then market them seems much less. In the Hudson Valley there were many towns of note but so few photographic postcard images extant as to suggest fewer shots were taken elsewhere. For whatever reason Rondout, the Rondout Creek riverfront of what is Kingston today became an epicenter of such shots, probably because there were many disasters and several photographers nearby. Whatever the reasons the frailty of life in Rondout and nearby places is graphically preserved.
Late in the 19th century the happy confluence of constant disasters, a breathless public, traveling photographers, faster film, and changing postal regulations brought the photograph postcard into its golden era. The result was a twenty-year run of photographic images running the gamut from American Gothic-like family scenes all the way to up in smoke and out-like-a-light. The memorable examples are the disasters.
Fast forward. Today on television we see the latest generation of these photographers, their subjects - the disasters-du-jour be they drunk driving, equipment malfunctions, divorce, public arguments and spats and of course crashes and wrecks. Are people at automotive events there to see the race or the accidents? Today’s wreck-du-jour videographers and the channels and websites they supply show a starlet under-siege, a terrible accident, and the gone-to seed mug shot of a once famous and now declining star – altogether in five minute segments sandwiched between ads for Viagra and Tide. Perhaps these Ulster County photo postcards are simply an early manifestation of the same human impulse to see other people’s misfortunes.
Click here to read to read Howland’s Railroad Accidents in the United States to which is appended Accounts of Recent Shipwrecks, Fires at Sea, Thrilling Incidents, etc. The full text is in Google Books.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
