Hello, I am researching this photo of Rossetti by Carroll. Sorry for my bad quality pics. I believe it's an albumen print, on very thin paper, 5-3/8 x 4 inches. I know the original was taken in 1863, however, the back has a faint pencil inscription: 1873 Life photo. There is an identical print with the oval framing in Morton N. Cohen's Reflections in a Looking Glass- from the Ransom Center.
Would anyone know if Carroll's photos were reprinted in the 1870s? Or could this be a more recent print?
Any information would be appreciated.
Best, David
Comments
Thanks for that information Giles.
Best, David
Dodgson did sell his photographs through commercial print sellers, as a list of those available for purchase survives. Is the red colouration of this print accurate? If so, it differs from all the Dodgson prints I have ever seen, which are generally yellow-brown in colour (I don't know if he is known to have used gold toning or not). It also differs in that it is vignetted in the negative - Dodgson's prints are often oval, but are cut to oval, so don't have any area of unexposed paper. To me it looks like a more recent print, reprinted for a book illustration or something like that. Edward Wakeling has seen many more Dodgson prints than me though, so he could presumably give you a definitive answer. Regards, Giles.
Thank you for your opinion, ja Woolf.
The 1873 is written over the second "Rossetti" right above "life photo'.
Best, David
PS it is not Carroll's writing or anyone's writing that I know on the back but the Greek e in "life" might suggest an educated man.