sizes of the cards varied, but most were
about 2.5 inches wide by 4 inches tall. A Cheap Photograph for Everyone
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Economy is everything. So
it was with the photograph. On the heels of the tintype was another type
of picture called the carte-de-visite, French for visiting card.
Most often called a CDV today, this new photograph was paper, and usually
mounted to card stock the size of a calling card. The
sizes of the cards varied, but most were
about 2.5 inches wide by 4 inches tall.
Instead of an emulsion on glass or tin, CDV's were small sheets of paper sensitized with a mixture including albumen. You may recognize that college word as being egg whites. Turns out egg whites will darken in sunlight and chickens were aplenty. The images are sometimes referred to as albumen prints.
By the time of the Civil War, CDVs could be had in virtually any photographic parlor in the country. They were also highly collectable as photographers could easily copy them and images of famous politicians, soldiers, actors, et cetera could be found in the albums of many families.
So many were made, that today, a collector can find them by the hundreds and many can be bought under $10.
The dapper young man to the right is probably a soldier. His military vest and campaign hat give him away, even though he has turned his coat down to make lapels to look even more dapper. CDVs were immensely popular with soldiers of both sides during the Late Unpleasantness, and images of them in full regalia command high prices today.
While there is nothing remarkable about the image to the left, there was something interesting underneath. The card on which it was affixed was smaller that the usual CDV card stock and...something was showing through from the other side. Using an ancient Chinese archival method, the image was removed from its card - below is what was found.
It is a ticket for an agricultural fair from 1868! This gentleman may have had the image taken at the fair and the photographer recycled and extra ticket for his CDVs.
CDVs were popular into the 1890s by which time George Eastman and his Kodak had killed them by producing a camera that any novice could use.
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