just some more show and tell ~

[lookingland]

yesterday gwyn_hwyfar asked me if my old photos were real and so i thought i would share one of my "realest" photos with you. this one is from 1859, given to "Rose" by her brother "Will". although the image itself (an ambrotype) has a fracture (which was how i managed to get this cheap once upon a time), the rest of the case is in pretty sweet condition. the case is gutta percha (a very early form of plastic), which didn't tend to hold up well. the note behind the picture is written in pencil in the tiniest print imaginable (the case itself is 2 x 2 inches ~ very small!). the lock of hair is light brown, baby-fine, and tied with a piece of brown thread (which is exceptionally well preserved).




closeups under the cut and a transcription of the note (though it's pretty legible, i think):



hard to tell from the scan, but his cheeks are tinted!



i love the advertisement that's still behind there, advertising the case itself.



the little tiny case itself is very pretty. a lost art form now.
these cased images were once the rage. comparable to iPods in their day
in terms of screamingly new technology.

Aug 16th 1859
My dear Rose
I sincerely
hope you will be pleased
with this. I was more fortunate
than you as I sat but once. I
am expecting "S" every day
also a letter from you
Goodbye and think sometimes
of
Your true bro
Will

it's dated on my birthday,
which was one of the reasons i bought it.
i love the very victorian convention of underlining
and of working the closing into the last sentence.

in case you don't know ~ his reference to "i sat but once"
is referring to the photo-sitting. apparently his sister
could not sit still enough to get a focused image. exposure
times in 1859 were very long and if you moved at all, the
image blurred.

i wonder what happened to Will. he's a young fella. did he go to war? was he a yankee or a reb? who is the mysterious "S" he refers to? a girlfriend? a pal? always fun to speculate.

Comments

[gwyn-hwyfar.livejournal.com]

"Your true bro" ----awww!

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

it is sweet, isn't it?

: D

[utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com]

I love old stuff like this. There's an ambrotype on sell on ebay of a woman in the process of snorting snuff. I'd put a link, but it's too long. Shouldn't be hard to find, though...

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

it's here (http://cgi.ebay.com/Ambrotype-Woman-Snorting-Snuff-leather-cased-L-K_W0QQitemZ330211657382QQihZ014QQcategoryZ13704QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) for anyone who wants to see it.



she's certainly snortin'! bizarre!

love the furry cuffs. what a great find.

eBay is the devil.

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

That's got to be one of the weirdest things I've seen in ages! There's a story there....*poke poke* :D

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

yes, i am totally writing this woman into something. i think she might be Aunt Laurel.

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

This is so lovely - like a tiny jewel that lets us peek into someone's life. Did you know the note was inside when you bought it?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i did, actually. i bought it in part because the date on the note is my birthday.

: D

i have always thought the hair was a little [creepy doesn't seem like the right word] ~ too precious? i have therefore never removed it from the case. doesn't seem like mine to touch.

[faynudibranch.livejournal.com]

I understand that completely....it's nice to hear some-one in the modern age say that.

Also thanks -- that was a fantastic post. He looks a little bit too much like one of my brother's friends.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

you're welcome! i love sharing this stuff.

it's funny how sometimes people in old pictures look so much like people we know. sometimes i think God recycles faces.

: D

[sparowe]

Wow. That is really something.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i'm glad you enjoyed it. it's my joy to share!

: D