Celebrity Cartes
In May 1860, John Jabez Edwin Mayall, who was later to
open a photographic studio in Brighton, made a number of portraits
of the Royal Family. Mayall was given permission to publish the
portraits of the Royal Family as a set of cartes-de-visite. In
August 1860, the cartes were released in the form of a Royal Album,
comprising of 14 small portraits of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert
and their children. The Royal Album was an immediate success,
and the cartes sold in their hundreds of thousands.
LEFT:Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert by J J E Mayall (1861) One of the royal
portraits that was issued as a cdv.
RIGHT
:A page from The Royal Album, which featured cdv portraits
of the Royal Family by Mayall (1861)RIGTL
The
publication of a set of royal portraits started a fashion in Britain
for collecting carte de visite portraits of famous people. Another
series of royal portraits by Mayall was published in 1861. In
the December of that year, Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert
succumbed to typhoid fever and his death created an enormous demand
for his portrait. The Photographic News later reported that within
one week of his death "no less than 70,000 of
his carte de visite were ordered from Marion & Co."
By the end of the decade, Marion & Co, had paid Mayall £35,000
for his portraits of the Royal Family.
Leading photographers made portraits of the famous personalities
of the day, which were then issued in carte de visite (cdv)
format and sold through retail outlets such as print sellers,
stationers, booksellers and fancy goods shop. The retail trade
dealt with cdv portraits of statesmen, politicians, actors, authors,
artists, entertainers and other famous people. By 1861, Thomas
Hill, who sold all manner of fancy goods at his shop at 66 East
Street, Brighton, was selling 'Albums for the Carte de Visite'
and had in stock a "great variety" of these celebrity
portraits.
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Local Celebrity Cartes
