Description
1871 CDV photo ‘The First Engine Employed on a Public Railway was built by George Stephenson in 1825 and was driven on the Stockton and Darlington Railway until 1858 and is now placed on a pedestal in front of the Darlington Station’. Photographer identified by back stamp as a D. Richardson Photographer Darlington. Also period pen notation John R. Sheraton Ellesmere 20 Oct. 1871
4 x 2.375 inches
CDV is an acronym for Carte de visite, which is french for ‘card of my visit’. The term referenced the popularity and nature of the new almost magical art of photography which allowed people to share not only personal and family photographs but also ‘celebrity’, travel, exotic and local attractions and points of interest. The popularity of the format and its rapid uptake worldwide were due to their relative cheapness, which made portrait photographs more accessible to the general public. Using a negative, each individual carte print was made at a fraction of the cost of producing one full-plate daguerreotype, ambrotype or tintype picture and ten could be printed at once. With her husband Prince Albert, Queen Victoria amassed one of the most significant collections of early photography, she’s credited with being a major influence around the world in the popularity and ‘trading’ of CDVs.
