Other Stuff

Nameless faces stare from the front of the Cabinet Photos that I actually bought for their reverse.  There you find some wonderful fonts and graphics and an interesting social comment of the time about this new medium - the fact that the early photgraphers wanted to compare to or see themselves as a continuation of the long established art world.

Mizpah card exterior Chromolithograph folding card with the front shown on the right. Mizpah has its origins as a Hebrew Biblical word. It is now regarded as a shorthand for the text on the left.	Mizpah card interior There is no space for recording the name of the giver or recepient anywhere on this card - perhaps that is the whole point?!
Cachet exterior Embossed and printed to resemble crocodile skin with a clasp decorated in a gold initial B. This type of cachet was used to exchange notes between lovers.	Cachet interior View shows the exposed gold leaf finished interior.
T H Jackson	J Norris, Birmingham
John McNamara, Romford	J Kerby, Ipswich
Gibbs & Co, Middlesborough	J J Avery, London
Memoriam Card Die cut, black edged card with a date of 1866 that places it at the height of Victorian mourning etiquette. Such a card would only have been affordable by the better off but infant mortality was no respecter of social class in this case.	Language of flowers about 1830 3 small pages from a book long since gone. Pictures are hand tinted. I have interpreted the flowers to match the scenes as follows: A striped carnation for refusal; Generally a rose is for love, a white rose for eternal love, a dog rose for pleasure; A sweetpea is for a goodbye or departure.