Photos, Victorian

Morning Glory Collects…

things we love to buy, wear and share
Victorian and early 1900s Photographs

Daguerreotypes

Daguerreotypes were images produced on a silver-coated
copper plate. The process was in 1839 invented by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre
(1787 to 1851), a Frenchman who had formerly been a stage designer, set
painter and creator of dioramas. Daguerreotypes most popular from about the
1840s to the 1860s. One way they can be recognized is by the high contrast
brilliance with bright whites and deep blacks. Because of the long exposure
time and the serious approach most sitters had to the process of having
their image documented, daguerreotypes often show people with a fairly stiff
and stern expression. Daguerreotypes could be hand-tinted, usually with gold
highlighting any jewelry in the picture, and perhaps pink in the cheeks.
Daguerreotypes allowed only one image and duplicates could not be produced.

Ambrotypes

Ambrotypes were negative images on a glass plate, made
positive by the addition of a black backing, and each image was
one-of-a-kind. Frederick Scott Archer, an
Englishman, introduced this process in 1854, and it was done from
the mid 1850s to the mid 1890s, with the height of it’s popularity during
the Civil War. Ambrotypes are not as high-contrast as
daguerreotypes so the images will be shades of gray with no bright whites.
Because they were done on glass, they are more fragile than tintypes.

Tintypes, Ferrotypes

Tintypes were images produced in the negative on a thin
iron plate and made positive with an undercoating of black Japan varnish.
Invented by Prof. Hamilton Smith of Ohio, these were popular for a long period from the 1850s-1930s. Cased tintypes were last produced in
about 1867, but they were done in other forms through the first third of the
20th century. Because they were less expensive to produce than daguerreotype
and ambrotypes, more of them were made. They could be tinted as well.

Cases

Cases were made on a wooden base that would have been
covered in cloth, leather or paper mache and embossed. They were also molded
out of plastic made from shellac and wood fibers and these were called
"Union Cases". Floral and geometrical design were popular and common,
although patriotic and other more intricate motifs can be found as well.
Some cases were inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

VICTORIAN ambrotype of a Civil
War era man in a patriotic case with flags and shield, 2-1/2" by 3" by 5/8", "Genuine Union Case",
circa 1855. A similar case can be seen in Mace’s "Collector’s Guide to
Early Photographs, Ed. 2" on page 65.
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View #A26620

Carte de Visite

Carte de Visites (visiting cards) were albumen prints
popularized on France by Andre Adolphe Eugene Disderi in about 1854. Popular
from the mid 1850s through about 1905, they usually measure approximately
2-1/2" by 3-1/2 to 4"" and are mounted on heavy paper cards that are slightly
larger than the image. These were exchanges with friends somewhat like
calling cards.

VICTORIAN lady wearing a
horseshoe bar pin for good luck and a floral bodice ornament. Carte de visite
signed "H. Walker, Bradford, 150 College Road, Manchester Rd, Bradford".
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Cabinet Cards

Cabinet cards were also albumen photographs. They were
approximately 4" by 5" and were mounted on cardboard, usually a 4-1/2" by 6-1/2" card. Popular from about 1863 to 1920, they
were introduced by the British firm of Windsor & Bridge.

VICTORIAN lady wearing a brooch with pendant on a
black beaded neck ribbon. Cabinet card marked on the back, "Sittler,
Springfield, Missouri, 1887".
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Stereoscopes & Magic
Lanterns
The stereoscope, while designed in the 1830s, was simplified
and presented first in the Crystal
Palace in London at the 1851
Great Exhibition. Stereo views can be found of people, cityscapes,
activities and stories. Viewing these three-dimensional photos was a popular parlor entertainment.

Early Magic Lanterns were used both by itinerant traveling "lanternists"
and in theaters. Slides could be hand painted or printed, and the
quality varied widely. By the 1900s, the magic lantern had evolved into the
slide projector.

Information Sources

Collector’s Guide to Early Photographs by O. Henry Mace
"American Museum of
Photography" web site
"Edin Photo" web site
"Early
Photography" web site
"Photographic
Process" web site
PhotoTree.com
web site
Magic Lanterns
Wikipedia