1880s Photography

A rare photo card of the actor E. Raiter by Nadar. Signed on the reverse. Paris 1886 Mounted in a contemporaneous ‘tramp art’ frame with low reflection g...

Presented is an antique photographic postcard of Seven Falls, Colorado, from 1880. Postcard production blossomed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as railroads opened up much of the Western frontier to new and exciting travel opportunities. Seven Falls is one of Colorado’s most captivating natural wonders. Located at the base of the Front Range, this magnificent series of waterfalls is situated in a 1,250-foot-wall box canyon between the towering Pillars of Hercules and boasts a 181-foot drop of falling water. Seven Falls was originally part of land given to Nathan Colby in 1872 as part of the Homestead Act of 1862. The Homestead Act granted 160 acres of surveyed land to pioneers in the west, with claimants required to “improve” the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land. Mr. Colby promptly sold the track of land to James Hull...

A framed Gelatin photograph of the crew of HMS Dido on deck, circa 1880.

Grant, Ulysses S. Large Albumen Photograph Magnificent large albumen photograph of Ulysses S. grant by Abraham Bogardus. An unusually large late (circa 1880) photograph of Grant, post-presidency, in formal dress, sitting and in partial profile. Mounted on thick card with the photographer’s credit and address (“A. Bogardus / 872 Broadway, NY”) on matte below the photo. The photographer, Anthony Bogardus, was a photographic pioneer, described by the New York Times as “the best-known photographer in the United States” in his prime who took “the first photographs of Gen. Grant, Gen. Hancock, Samuel D. Morse, inventor of the telegraph; Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher and other equally well-known men.” The engravers Currier & Ives produced an engraving based on this photograph, calling it “the last and best taken of General Grant...