"This book brings together all the surviving photographs - 126 of the original 150 - from the series La Nouvelle Orleans et ses environs, made in 1867 by the New Orleans photographer Theodore Lilienthal (1829-1894). The first municipally sponsored photographic survey of any American city, the portfolio - featuring every aspect of the topography of New Orleans, from mansions and churches to factories and asylums - was exhibited at the Paris World Exposition of 1867 before being presented to Napoleon III, Emperor of France (reigned 1852-70)." "Gary A. Van Zante discusses Lilienthal's techniques locating him within the field of nineteenth-century commercial photography and placing each work in the context of antebellum citybuilding and postwar reconstruction. With extensive biographical and bibliographical information, this detailed and evocative pictorial and historical survey of Civil War-era New Orleans is illustrated with reproductions of all 126 photographs, and will appeal to anyone interested in American history, the Civil War era, the history of photography or the development of the modern city."--Jacket.