VISITE

[ Sir Henry Mendelssohn Hake, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London.] Typed Letter Signed (‘H M. Hake’) to S. Hodgson recording portraits of George Cruikshank and Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson.

Author: 
Sir H. M. Hake [Sir Henry Mendelssohn Hake] (1892-1951), Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 1927-1951 [George Cruikshank (1792-1878), caricaturist; Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson]
Publication details: 
11 June 1937; on letterhead of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
£56.00

1p, 4to. On discoloured and somewhat grubby paper, folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘S. Hodgson Esq.’ and signed ‘H M. Hake’. Hodgson has sent Hake ‘a manuscript fragment’, which does not seem to indicate either of ‘the portraits in the Gallery’. He has ‘looked up the record of portraits offered in the past but there is no mention of Mrs. Cruikshank or her executors.’ He asks a related question before turning to the subject of the physician Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-1896), who was in Hake’s opinion ‘more of a professional worthy than a national one’.

[John Ruskin.] Carte de visite by Elliott & Fry, London, with facsimile signature.

Author: 
John Ruskin, pre-eminent Victorian art critic; Elliott & Fry, nineteenth-century London photographers noted for their cartes de visite
Ruskin
Publication details: 
1867 or 1869. Elliott & Fry, 55, Baker Street, Portman Square, London, W.
£150.00
Ruskin

Rather long for a carte de visite: 6 x 9 cm albumen print laid down on 6.5 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, lightly discoloured and worn. On the card beneath the photograph is a facsimile of Ruskin’s signature (‘John Ruskin’) and ‘ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55. BAKER ST.’ Printed on the reverse is the royal crest and the firm’s address. A copy of the present item was offered by Sotheby’s in 2021, dated to 1867, with the claim that it was ‘signed on the mount’. That claim is erroneous: the signature to that copy is identical with the present lithographed one.

[L. Werner, Photographer in Dublin] Carte-de-Visite, photograph of a woman's head.

Author: 
L. Werner, Photographer in Dublin
Dublin
Publication details: 
L. Werner, 15 Leinster Street, Dublin (printed on reverse), [1860s?]. See image.
£56.00
Dublin

Carte-de-Visite, c.10 x 6cm, sl. grubby but a good image. Name of subject (apparently) written on reverse in pencil, Mrs Magrath. A similar item at the V & A is described as an albumen print. Louis Werner appears in the Dictionary of Irish Artists. Apparently ill health drove him from portrait painting to photography.

[ George Cruikshank, English caricaturist. ] Albumen Carte-de-Visite portrait photograph and autograph signature.

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English caricaturist ['the modern Hogarth'], friend and illustrator of Charles Dickens
Publication details: 
The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, 110 & 108 Regent Street, London. [1870 ]
£80.00

The image is 8.7 x 6.2 cm, on part of printed London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company mount. In good condition, lightly-aged. The lower part of the mount has been cut away, and laid down over the lower part of the photograph is a 1 x 6.5 cm strip of paper, carrying Cruikshank's autograph signature ('Geoe Cruikshank'). The National Portrait Gallery copy of this image is NPG Ax17862.

[ W. H. Smith, bookseller, newsagent and politician. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('W H Smith') to 'Mr Perkins' regarding 'Crown rights for money advanced', with carte de visite (portrait photograph) and label for his firm's subscription library.

Author: 
W. H. Smith [ William Henry Smith (1825-1891) ], bookseller, newsagent and politician; First Lord of the Admiralty and the 'Sir Joseph Porter' of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'HMS Pinafore'
Publication details: 
Letter on House of Commons letterhead. 14 March [ no year ]. Undated carte de visite by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, 110 and 108 Regent Street and 54 Cheapside. Undated label of W. H. Smith & Son's Subscription Library, 186 Strand.
£50.00

LETTER: 2pp., 12mo. On lightly aged and worn paper. He summons him to a meeting, telling him to read a memo beforehand, before writing: 'I am not disposed to waive any Crown rights for money advanced | Lenders may have notice, but if P. W L C advance public money, the public must be protected against persons who are trading for profit'. CARTE DE VISITE: In fair condition, lightly aged, with 'W. H. SMITH, ESQ., M.P.' printed beneath the image, and the details of the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company on the reverse.

[George William Childs, American publisher.] Cabinet card portrait by the F. Gutekunst Co. of Philadelphia.

Author: 
George William Childs (1829-1894), American publisher and co-owner of the Philadelphia Public Ledger [The F. Gutekunst Co., Philadelphia]
Publication details: 
The F. Gutekunst Co., 712 Arch Street, Philadelphia. [1880s.]
£56.00

14 x 10 cm albumen print, on 16.5 x 11 cm card. In fair condition, lightly-faded. Docketed on reverse: 'G. W. Childs | who erected monument over <?>' From the papers of the Anglo-American astronomer Mary Proctor (1862-1957).

Albumen print of photograph, slightly smaller than a carte de visite, showing two seated Africans: a younger man in and western evening dress, and an older woman in a bonnet.

Author: 
[Albumen print of photograph of an African man and woman in western dress, dated 1853; Victorian photography; carte de visite; North Africa]
Publication details: 
Dated in manuscript on the reverse '1853'.
£250.00

An albumen print, mounted on a piece of plain white card. Dimensions of print: 94 x 57 mm. Dimensions of card: 104 x 64 mm. Aged and faded. The card is entirely blank, apart from the date '1853' written at the head of the reverse. Clearly an early portrait of black people: if the date on the reverse is correct it pre-dates by a year the patenting of the carte to visite by Disdéri. The couple are seated side by side, gazing slightly to the right of the camera.

Photographic portrait by Messrs W. Walker & Sons of Cavendish Square, London, of the English composer John Pyke Hullah, on albumen carte-de-visite.

Author: 
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla] (1812-1884), English composer for one of whose operas Charles Dickens wrote the libretto [St Martin's Hall, Long Acre]
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]
Publication details: 
Undated (circa 1860?). Messrs Walker & Sons, Artists & Photographers, 64 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, London.
£125.00
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]

Oval sepia photograph of the head and shoulders of Hullah, looking to his right in double-breasted jacket. Faded and on aged card, with traces of mount adhering to reverse. The sitter - who by comparison with other photographs is definitely Hullah - is named as 'JOHN HULLAH' in a contemporary hand on the card beneath the laid-down photograph, and as 'Mr Hullah' in pencil on the reverse. Not present in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, which only holds three images of the composer.

Photographic portrait by Nadar of the opera singer Christine Nilsson, with presentation inscription by her to 'Mr Montiguani'.

Author: 
Christina Nilsson (1843-1921), Countess de Casa Miranda, Swedish opera singer, inspiration for the character of Christine Daaé in Gaston Leroux's novel Phantom of the Opera [Nadar; 'Mr Monteguani']
Photographic portrait by Nadar of the opera singer Christine Nilsson
Publication details: 
"Edinburgh le 6 Décembre 1869.' On Nadar's carte de visite, 'Nadar | 35, Boulevart [sic] des Capucines | PARIS.'
£320.00
Photographic portrait by Nadar of the opera singer Christine Nilsson

Albumen printh, 8.5 x 5.5 cm, laid down on card, 10.5 x 6 cm. In fair condition: lightly faded on slightly-aged card. Card printed in red on both sides, with Nadar's address and facsimile signature on reverse, and his initial within the border containing the photograph on the other side. Head and shoulders shot of the singer, staring at the viewer in a dark dress attached at the neck.

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