Carte de Viste and Cabinet Card Photographs

 Carte de Viste and Cabinet Cards are two types of easily recognizable photographs dating from the Victorian era or about the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. 

            The carte de visite (CdV) photographs are the size of calling cards, measuring 2 1/2 x 4 inches. Because of their size, a series of photographs could be produced on paper and cut into eight cards. The size may vary, however, because commercial suppliers began mass-producing cards, and the images had to be trimmed to fit the card size. Many were careless in their trimming, so you may run across some CdVs that are angled or otherwise varied. 

       

           Many people who went calling on their relatives or neighbors would leave their carte de vistes upon leaving. The pictures became popular in the 1860s, and royalty, politicians, actors, and other famous individuals had their images made into these photographs and signed them. The Victorians prized carte de visite photographs and collected them. 

            These photographs were famous during the Civil War. President Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant had their photos taken this way. Albums were made to accommodate people’s collections and hold the prized cards. It would be fortunate for someone to have an album full of these beautiful Victorian treasures among their family photograph collection!  

            To identify a carte de viste, first measure the size of the photograph. The paper print will be mounted on a commercially produced card. Look closely at the subject in the picture and notice the hairstyles and clothing. Carte de vistes were produced into the very early 1900s. These small prints may appear very faded and grainy.  

            Cabinet cards replaced the carte de vistes. They can measure from small, 5 inches x 7 inches, to larger ones, 5 inches x 10 inches. A customary cabinet card is a photo mounted onto thicker card stock. There is extra space around the photo; you will find the photographer’s studio imprint (if there is one), usually at the bottom. These are albumen images and will have a yellow-brown or purple-blue tone. But sometimes, they may appear black and white. That is due to the process in which they were developed. The last cabinet cards were produced around 1925.

            These photographs were named because Victorians displayed them in their parlors, especially in cabinets. The cabinet card was an admired type of photograph that displayed family groups. By this time, photographers began to use props or complex scenes in studios, using ironwork chairs, gates and fences, fake trees and grass, or ornately constructed window and doorway sets. 

            To identify cabinet cards, note their measurements and observe the color of the paper image. Note if they have gilt and embossed decorative borders and an imprint giving the photographer’s name & the location of the studio. If the card stock separates layers on the edges, they were probably made after 1870. 

            The Victorians treasured all things, especially their clothing and jewelry. Cabinet cards document their love of the elaborate. Children’s pictures may show them poised with their dolls, toys, bicycles, and wagons. Look for women in fanciful hats and gorgeous gowns and men with pocket watches, mustaches, and dapper clothing. 

            When Kodak introduced the Brownie Box Camera around 1900, cabinet card photographs declined in popularity.

            While researching these two types of photographs, I found a lot of conflicting information. Writers, photographers, and collectors disagree on the dates the carte de visite and cabinet card photographs were introduced and how they were produced. 

            I love these types of photographs, and in my collection, there are cabinet card photos of babies, children posed with their pets, men sitting beside their faithful dog, women in giant hats, and family groups in various settings. Not all of them have the photography studio imprint. 

            If you visit flea markets and antique stores and run around to community garage sales, you will probably find old photographs displayed in baskets and trays on shelves of other collectible treasures.