Whilst in Whitley Bay, I found a rather good second-hand shop with a small selection of Victorian photographs for sale. The price negotiation was complicated by my profound deafness and the shop-owner's challenging regional accent, but a price was eventually arrived at. Here is the first of the ten photographs I bought. A pencilled caption … Continue reading Mrs Hall Of Newsham
Category: Victorian Portraits
Something Near Life
There is a real pleasure in finding an old photograph - in this case probably more than 125 years old - which is fading into obscurity and being scratched and torn towards extinction, and rescuing it and sharing it. It doesn't matter that you don't know who she is - I don't either - what … Continue reading Something Near Life
Faces Of Halifax
This is another from my "Faces Of Halifax" series - Victorian and Edwardian portraits created by Halifax photographic studios. This couple visited the studio of E Greaves on Silver Street, Halifax towards the end of the nineteenth century to have their likeness captured, and what a stunning likeness it is. This is the Victorian equivalent … Continue reading Faces Of Halifax
Halifax Faces
Towards the end of the 19th century, most towns would have at least one professional photographer's studio. It was a time when ordinary people began to have their photos taken, and such photographs - in the form of small "carte de visites" or slightly larger "cabinet cards" - became family treasures. The studios were keen … Continue reading Halifax Faces
A Fibrous Forest
As a young man I briefly had a beard. Sadly, it never flourished and it resembled more of a mossy outcrop rather than the fibrous forest attached to the chin of the Victorian gent featured in this Carte-de-visite from my collection which dates from the 1870s
COPIES ALWAYS AVAILABLE
On the back of this Victorian Carte de Visite which came from the Birmingham studio of the photographer W Baker, it states "Negatives kept, copies always available". There is also a reference number (15073). If you're listening Mr Baker, I'd quite like a copy of the original. And just in case he's not listening, I've … Continue reading COPIES ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Mary The Beekeeper And The Flight Of Fancy Simulator
The thing about playing around with old, lost and forgotten photographs is that it provides a vigorous workout for the imagination. It is like a well equipped gym of thoughtfulness set inside a state of the art flight of fancy simulator. You can look at a picture that stopped time a century or more ago … Continue reading Mary The Beekeeper And The Flight Of Fancy Simulator
Fruit Inflation And Silhouettes
This is a “Cabinet Card” - a pasteboard-backed Victorian photograph - of an unknown woman sat reading under a tree. I suspect it might be from an amateur photographer - clues being the outdoor location and the lack of studio details on the rear of the card. Halifax Borough Market. Not sure exactly when I … Continue reading Fruit Inflation And Silhouettes
Five Miserable Men From Ovenden
This is an Edwardian studio Cabinet Card featuring five unknown men. On the reverse is a studio stamp which reads “B Collier, Photographer, Ovenden, Nr Halifax” I have not been able to find any record of such a photographer in any of the lists of Victorian and Edwardian studios, nor in census records, but that … Continue reading Five Miserable Men From Ovenden
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