3456

Photo Diary of Pancho Villa by W.H. Horne, with 3 Books on the Mexican Revolution [133775]

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:12,500.00 USD Estimated At:25,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
Photo Diary of Pancho Villa by W.H. Horne, with 3 Books on the Mexican Revolution  [133775]
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The primary feature of this lot is a massive and important collection of
184 real photo postcards (RPCs) and six original 5 x7 prints, most of which
are directly attributable to Walter H. Horne, who made a good living for
himself making photographic postcards in the American Southwest during the
time of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. Some cards are
addressed to Horne's family members in Hallowell, Maine, and the handwriting
is consistent across many of the annotated cards, thus indicating that this
is part of Horne's personal collection of his postcards . A portion of the
collection is another photo diary of many of the same events by Horne's
contemporary, Robert Runyon.

Basing himself in El Paso, Texas, because of his health, Horne was not so
much a journalist, but at the core, he was a business man who saw
photography and the conflict south of the border to be opportunities to make
money. He must have been a personable man, as he was able to photograph
General Fransisco ("Pancho") Villa shortly after a successful battle in
northern Mexico. He was also one of the first photographers to reach
Columbus, New Mexico, within hours of the Villista raid into that community,
and he followed Brigadier General John J. Pershing's 1916 Punitive
Expedition as the United States Army attempted to capture Villa in northern
Mexico. Here Horne records encampments, weapons, and new technology such as
an observation balloon and Army biplanes.

Horne contact-printed tens of thousands of his photos direct from negatives
onto ~3x5-inch postcards and sold them wholesale all over the country. His
photo documentation of Pancho Villa's activity in the Mexican Revolution is
gathered in this notebook of approximately 200 RPCs. It is amazing for
revealing the gritty realism of the conflict and for the portrayal of the
personal tragedies and triumphs experienced by so many.

Walter H. Horne died in El Paso at the age of 38 in 1921. His photographic
legacy lives on through his images and has been incorporated in the telling
and retelling of the events of the Mexican Revolution, and in particular of
Pancho Villa.

Robert Runyon began photographing the Mexican Revolution near its start in
1913 at Matamoros. While Runyon was a contemporary of Horne's, he was his
own man with his own schedule and interests. It is thus that his real photo
post cards add another important element to the photographic record of the
Mexican Revolution.

Several books are included in this lot: Border Fury, by Paul J. Vanderweed
and Frank N. Samponaro, which includes a number of W.H. Horne images. Also
included are Bloody Border, by Douglass V. Meed, and War Scare on the Rio
Grande, by Frank N. Samponaro and Paul J. Vanderweed. The latter includes
only images by Robert Runyan, a contemporary of W.H. Horne, but the authors
specifically mention Horne's success in the photo postcard market of the
period. Also included is a photo booklet Army Live - A Souvenir de Luxe of
the Army in Mexico and on the Border. It is a photo journal of the 1916
Mexican Border Expedition. The photos have no attribution but are at least
contemporary to the work of Walter Horne.

As assembled, this lot is an incredible collection of historic photographs
from a tumultuous time in history along the U.S./Mexico border.