The Complete Photographs of Darwin
| Audio version of this introduction - YouTube |
by John van Wyhe
| (This is an extract from the iconography of Darwin in Darwin: A Companion (2021) with many additions, corrections and 520 illustrations. The rest of the iconography or catalogue of over 1,000 unique Darwin portraits including 210 oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, more than 600 printed portraits as well as caricatures and over 240 three-dimensional works such as statues, busts and medallions and iconographies of HMS Beagle, Down House and Emma Darwin is in the book.) Downloadable PDF file of this page. |  |
This is by far the most complete and accurate catalogue of photographs of Darwin ever published. It includes a dozen discovered during the many years of research for this study. The list includes more details about each photograph than previously published, such as dates, prices, the photographers and comments by Darwin or others on how the photographs were originally received. And, unprecedentedly, it includes details of all known variants produced to the early 20th century—more than 340. This is how Darwin's appearance became so well known to the public during the 19th century and after.
It is well known that Darwin declined a request to be photographed with A.R. Wallace to illustrate a German translation of the 1858 Linnean papers (F365). (A.B. Meyer to Darwin 24 Nov. 1869 CCD17:497.) Darwin replied that Meyer was welcome to include a photograph "But I am not willing to sit on purpose; it is what I hate doing & wastes a whole day owing to my weak health; and to sit with another person would cause still more trouble & delay…PS I am very sorry to be disobliging about the Photographs, but I cannot endure the thought of sitting again, and I have refused 3 or 4 Photographers lately." (27 Nov. [1869] CCD17:505) Wallace agreed, as he wrote to Darwin on 4 Dec. "It is of course out of the question our meeting to be photographed together, as Mr. Meyer coolly proposes." (CCD17:514) Francis Darwin recalled: "He certainly had a great regard for time, & speaks in some of his letters with disgust of losing a day. I think one about being photographed." (CUL-DAR140.3.1--159)
Despite Darwin's oft-expressed aversion to sitting for photographs, this catalogue reveals that from 1865 he would be photographed every year or alternate year for the remainder of his life except for perhaps 1875-77. It was common practice at the time to sit for a more up-to-date photograph to send to friends and correspondents. In comparison, Emma Darwin was photographed much less. A list of all known photographs and portraits of her are listed in a separate iconography in Darwin: A Companion, 2021.
Most of the photographs of Darwin were eventually commercially available and also reproduced as engravings or woodcuts. Francis Darwin recalled: "He did not realise that people would know him from his photograph, and I remember him at the Crystal Palace aquarium saying in uneasy voice that somebody had been looking at him & he supposed he must have been recognised." (CUL-DAR140.3.1--159)
Dating Victorian photographs is particularly difficult as they were almost never dated at the time. They were often reproduced for many years by the same photographic company (and also pirated by others) but differently cropped and edited. Attention to tiny clues can help narrow the possible date ranges. The many variants in the Darwin photographs represent separate orders by photographers to keep copies in stock for sale. Hundreds of thousands of photographs were produced in the 19th century and even more in the first two decades of the 20th century. One popular card alone of topical interest sold over 250,000 copies.
By mid-century new technologies made large-scale reproduction of photographs possible for the first time in the form of small cartes de visite, 11.4 x 6.3cm (4 ½ x 2 ½ inches), the size of a formal visiting card. Paper manufacturers produced card blanks in mass numbers and these were sold to retailers. Professional photographers or photograph publishers would order blank card stock and, as the century progressed, have these printed with their name or address and increasingly ornate designs and advertisements. One could pay for one's own portrait to be made and photographers also sold portraits of famous persons. Albums began to be produced to store collections of these small portrait cards.
An album for cartes de visite believed to have been compiled by Emma Darwin. (Reeman Dansie Auctioneers, 2022)
From the early 1870s a larger format called a cabinet card (10.8 x 16.5cm; 4¼ x 6½ inches) replaced the earlier carte de visite.
Many traditionally accepted dates for Darwin photographs derive from much later annotations on some copies. Some of these are clearly very inaccurate. Also, for decades Darwin's dress was invariably very similar with a double-breasted waistcoat (often with a similar spotted design), silk cravat and heavy, loose, dark jacket of plain weave. Of the photographs that reveal this, only Claudet 1842, Wallich 1871 and Rejlander 1871a-b show him wearing a single-breasted waistcoat. The latter two are so similar that they might even be the same suit.
His personal appearance was also very consistent after the 1860s with a mostly bald head and full, bushy white beard. A 30 May 1935 letter from his son Leonard Darwin in the Robert M. Stecher Collection at Case Western Reserve University accompanying an autographed copy of Rejlander 1871d.1 states: "I think [the photo] was taken somewhere about 1870; but this is a mere guess. He always looked old for his age. It might be rather later." Louisa A'hmuty Nash, a neighbour (1873-9) and friend of the Darwins at Down, recalled: "Those eyebrows used to trouble his wife when his photograph was taken: she used to say the photographers gave him no eyes at all." (A223) Some of the dates adopted here might be further revised in future. And there are probably further exposures from sittings already known.
Details are given below for each photograph and the various printings or variants that were produced, or rather those that have been seen so far. We have no idea how large the print runs were. Nevertheless, this reveals much about the extent to which Darwin's image was circulated, in what forms, and which photographs were most popular in different periods. Such details will also be of interest to collectors. A careful reading of the list will make it clear that many errors about dates and photographers have gone unnoticed for many years in the literature on Darwin and some may still remain in the present list.
Of all those whose records have been found, Julia Margaret Cameron was the most active in registering photographs of Darwin for copyright. There was a rush by some photographers to register their photographs of Darwin for copyright shortly after his death. The first time (so far as seen) each photograph was engraved is noted to illustrate when a particular likeness became widely reproduced and available in print. Gene Kritsky has for many years been collecting and studying photographs of Darwin. He has discovered many photographs and likely some not recorded here. His findings are to be much anticipated. See also Janet Browne, "I could have retched all night": Charles Darwin and his body. In Lawrence & Shapin eds., Science incarnate (1998); Browne, Looking at Darwin: portraits and the making of an icon. Isis (Sept. 2009), and Phillip Prodger, Darwin's camera: Art and photography in the theory of evolution, 2009.
A note on signed Darwin photographs: Darwin and his family distributed hundreds and perhaps thousands of photographs of Darwin during and after his lifetime. Darwin signed very many of these as was common practice at the time. However, as is explained below, commercial Victorian CDVs and cabinet cards were routinely printed with a facsimile (lithographed) signature of a famous sitter. The high quality of these facsimiles have fooled many. One recent writer has opined: "There are signed cabinet cards in the market, but just about all of them are forgeries. A genuine signed photograph is a rarity. There are many Elliot & Fry cabinet cards in the market with a forgery placed at the bottom of the card. There are also many of these same cards that feature a facsimile signature. … caution is warranted. The sad fact is if you see a Darwin signature in the market it is very likely a forgery." (R. Keurajian, Collecting historical autographs, 2016, p. 253.) Very many Victorian photographs have had the name of the sitter written on them by a previous owner. These were not meant to be forgeries, just to identify the sitter.
RN52
Claudet 1842.
1842 Aug. 23 Seated half-length three-quarter right profile daguerreotype with first child William Erasmus on his lap by Antoine-François-Jean Claudet (1797-1867), 18 King William Street, Strand and Coliseum, called The Royal Adelaide Gallery. Only known daguerreotype of Darwin and the only 'photographic' image of him with another person. See Keynes, Annie's box, 2001, pp. 59ff. A London studio portrait with painted drop background. These were advertised as "EXCLUSIVELY HIS OWN [Claudet's], representing Landscapes, Interior of apartments, &c. which produces the most PICTURESQUE EFFECT". Darwin chose a landscape with neoclassical motifs. Modern writers have claimed that the sitting took so long that Darwin appeared in it perhaps only to hold William steady. But Claudet's advertisements boasted that "the sitting generally occupies less than one second, by which faithful and pleasing likenesses are obtained." The Bradford Observer (21 Apr. 1842) noted that this rapidity of the exposure method of Claudet "obviated in a great degree" the "objections made to their [i.e. photograph's] stern and gloomy expression". Thus some Victorians themselves were displeased with what has become the modern stereotype of Victorian photographic portraits because other technologies required long exposure times. According to Evelleen Richards, Darwin and the making of sexual selection, 2017, "William is wearing a dress, as was conventional for Victorian boys who were not 'breeched' until around five years of age". The original, 9.4x8.3cm, is at Down House (EH88202861) mounted in a leatherette velvet lined case. Label on glass inscribed "Aug 23 1842 Ch and William 3 ¾". William (b. 27. Dec. 1839) was actually 2 years and 8 months old, close to 2¾. Paper label on rear of box "WED", William Erasmus Darwin, who lent it for display at Christ's College in 1909. Claudet made a daguerreotype copy of the 1853 drawing of Darwin by Laurence, 11.5x9.2cm. Annotated on rear of case "Nov 1853". Down House EH88202863.
Claudet daguerreotype c.1842 of unknown man seated in the same chair and with the same backdrop as Darwin.
The daguerreotype of Darwin was first photographed at an unknown date. There is a copy in the Darwin family photograph album on display in the sitting room at Down House. It was published by Karl Pearson in The life, letters, and labours of Francis Galton, vol. 3, in 1930. Several versions were apparently produced by Nora Barlow c.1958. See CUL-DAR225.129, and UCL-GaltonPapers1.1.3.7. Barlow published it in Darwin's unexpurgated Autobiography, facing p. 110.
Maull & Polyblank 1855.1.
Maull & Polyblank 1855.1. Detail from the copy at Christ's College, Cambridge. See: Introduction to this photograph.
1855 Seated half-length, full face in embroidered waistcoat, by Maull & Polyblank for the Literary and Scientific Portrait Club. The Club was "instituted for the purpose of attaining a uniform set of portraits of the literary and scientific men of the present age at a moderate cost." (Contemporary advert.) The Club was joined by paying a fee of 10s 6d to the secretary, J.S. Bowerbank, and being photographed in the studio of Henry Maull (1829-1914) and George Henry Polyblank (b.1831), 187a Piccadilly, London. By joining the club one would receive one print and could purchase a photograph of any other member for 3s. Copies were available to members only. Francis Darwin first saw the photograph in 1909 and suggested it might date to 1854. Darwin paid Maull & Polyblank £3 1s. 6d. on 31 Dec. 1855. Classed account book, Down House. This suggests that Darwin purchased c.14 additional prints, though not necessarily all of himself. The portraits in the series are rather uniform. Some depict other men in the exact same pose as Darwin, almost none of them use props such as a microscope or fossil. The series of portraits was issued without text from 1855-c.1858.
Another sitter in the series in almost identical pose.
The Linnean Society has a set of 95, but there were many more. Darwin to Hooker 27 May 1855: "if I really have as bad an expression, as my photograph gives me, how I can have one single friend is surprising." CCD5:339. And to Hooker in 1860: "It makes me look atrociously wicked." CCD8:532. Asa Gray to Darwin 1856 Aug. 20 "[Francis] Boott lately sent me your photograph, which (tho. not a very perfect one) I am well pleased to have." CCD6:195. Boott was also a member of the Club. See: Introduction.
1. Arched albumen silver print (20x15cm) with 2 gilt border lines. Printed on recto mount "MAULL & POLYBLANK, Photo. 55 Gracechurch Street". Note no "London" in address on this variant. Verso blank. Christ's College, Cambridge. No copy in CUL. Sotheby's Dec. 2022, lot 1018.
Maull & Polyblank 1855.2 (mount cropped).
2. Arched albumen silver print (20x15cm) with 2 gilt border lines. Printed on recto mount "MAULL & POLYBLANK, Photo. 55 Gracechurch Street, London". NPG P106(7), NHM, etc.
Maull & Polyblank 1855.3. and detail of lithographed signature.
3. Photogravure (slightly cropped on all sides) image considerably 'cleaned up' and edited, looking very fine. Printed below image "Maull & Fox, photographers Emery Walker Ph sc" with lithographed signature "Charles Darwin" followed by "1854 / Published by Maull & Fox, 187 Piccadilly London, & by Emery Walker Limited. 16 Clifford's Inn in the City of London. 19th day of April, 1912." CUL-DAR140.1.25, etc. This or a descendant version appeared, reversed, and very heavily edited, in Der Spiegel (26 Dec. 1962): 50.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.
(Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia)
1857 Almost full-length seated left profile, checked trousers, waistcoat and cravat, by Maull & Polyblank whose partnership was 1854-65. This photograph is always attributed to "Maull & Fox" (after name on later prints) but their partnership was 1879-85 (the firm continued until 1928 at 200 Gray's Inn Road). The editors of the CCD note "An entry in CD's Account book (Down House MS) in February 1858 suggests that CD may have sat for the photograph in the summer of 1857." CCD8:531. See also CCD8:488, 10:141, 11:22 and 16:16. A letter from Erasmus Alvey Darwin to Darwin from [April-May? 1862] shows that Darwin's 'photograph' at Maull and Polyblank required an order from him to sell a copy to someone, so they were not previously available to the public. (CCD10:141) Engraved in Journal, vol. 1 [in Russian] (1865, F2383.1.) et al. Head and shoulders engraved by G. Kruell, 1884. Darwin sent a copy to J.V. Carus in 1866.
Woodcut based on Maull & Polyblank 1857 by August Johann Daugell 1865. One of hundreds of independent artworks based on photographs.
Variants seen:
1. Arched albumen silver print, 32x27cm. Decorative window mount with edge gilding and photographer's stamp. Down House EH88204428.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.1.b.
1.1. Albumen photograph, 15.3x11.5cm, uncropped, mounted on thick paper. Below image "Phothogr. v. Buchner / Charles Darwin. / E. Schweitzerbart'sche Verlagshandlung in Stuttgart." Frontispiece to Origin 2d ed. [in German] (1863, F673).
Maull & Polyblank 1857.2.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.2. (H.E. Litchfield album)
2. CDV cropped/faded to head and chest. Printed on recto mount "MAULL & POLYBLANK LONDON". On verso "MAULL & POLYBLANK / Photographers / 55, GRACECHURCH STREET, / 187a, PICCADILLY, / and / TAVISTOCK HOUSE FULHAM ROAD / LONDON / No " with photographer's handwritten number on both copies in CUL-DAR225.110-111 "33326". A copy in CUL-DAR225.110 is signed on verso "W.E Darwin". Down House EH88207472. Copy in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.3. and printing on verso.
3. Arched print, c.17x10cm. Printed on recto mount "Photographed by Messers. Maull & Fox. London." Printed on verso: three royal coats of arms and "MAULL & FOX / PHOTOGRAPHERS TO THE ROYAL FAMILY / Portrait and Miniature Painters / 187A. PICCADILLY / LONDON" and handwritten "4516". CUL-DAR225.175 and Down House EH88207471.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.4.
4. An enlargement, 54.5x41cm (frame 85x69cm), one on display at Down House, has image heavily edited with a chairback added, a printed label on the back of the frame: "Messrs. MAULL & FOX, / (FORMERLY MAULL & POLYBLANK), / Photographers and Portrait Painters to the Royal Family. / 187A, PICCADILLY, W., / Name [Charles Darwin Esq] / No [162898.] On ordering Copies please to quote the Name and Number as above." The bracketed text written by hand. With "Belonged to William & later to Horace Darwin." written on another label. Labelled "11". EH88204460.
5. CDV cropped/faded to almost head only, which fills more of the card than 2 above. No printing on recto. Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.6.
6. Photogravure. Cropped to waist and above wrist exactly like woodcut by Kruell 1884, 11x9.3cm. Printed below image "Maull & Fox, photo. Walker & Cockerell, ph.sc. / Charles Darwin. / Cir-1854." ML2, facing p. 204.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.7.
7. Photogravure in K. Pearson, Life, letters and labours of Francis Galton, (1914), vol. 1, pl. XXXVII (A256) with the unusual caption "From a photograph by Maull and Fox [sic], touched up by Mrs Darwin and now in the possession of Mr William E. Darwin." Darwin's trousers have been heavily scored on the negative, obscuring the checked pattern. No chairback.
8. Albumen photograph in the Paul Victorius Evolution Collection, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, is the least cropped variant seen.
Maull & Polyblank 1857.9.
(Courtesy of Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University)9. Head and torso only, remainder faded away. Mounted on large card with "PHOTOGRAPHED BY MAULL & FOX, 187A PICADILLY, LONDON" printed on recto mount. Verso blank. Copy in the J.C. Simpson Collection, Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University. Written on verso: "Photograph of Ch. Darwin taken in 1854 (?) given to J.C. Simpson by WE Darwin July 2. 1909".
10. CDV faded to head and torso only, no text on mount. Russia.
W.E. Darwin 1861.
(Courtesy of Harvard University Herbaria and Botany Libraries)
1861 Apr. 11 Half-length right profile photograph (6x4.5cm) by William Erasmus Darwin. Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University (DC04/0074). Written in pencil on verso "C. Darwin 1861 / Taken by his sons?; Given to the Gray Herbarium by Mrs. Asa Gray." Darwin to Asa Gray 11 Apr. 1861: "P.S. I enclose a little Photograph made this morning by my eldest Son". CCD9:88-89. The last known photograph without beard. Darwin later referred to "a small dark closet, in which my son formerly photographed" Darwin to G.C. Wallich 18 Apr. [1869] CCD17:185. There are several records for photographic expenses for William in Darwin's Account book (Down House MS) from Jul. 1857. Not engraved or published during the 19th century.
W.E. Darwin 1864a. W.E. Darwin 1864b. W.E. Darwin 1864c.
1864 Three photographs by William Erasmus Darwin. The first photographs with beard.
a. Three-quarter left profile extending down to middle of chest.
Weger 1870.
Engraving "Stich u. Druck v. Weger, Leipzig." after W.E. Darwin 1864a with standing torso added by an artist. Frontispiece to Origin [in German], F675 and [in Hungarian] 1873, F703 et al.
Variants of the photograph seen:
W.E. Darwin 1864a.1.
a.1. CDV cropped/faded to head only in an oval, no printing on recto or verso. Card with rounded corners. A copy sold (for $31,200) at Bonham's in 2008 is signed and dated on the verso by Darwin "Ch. Darwin / June 1864." and sent to Clair J. Grece of Redhill, Surrey. Another sold in 2009 is inscribed: "Ch. Darwin 1864", sold again 6 March 2020 for $12,575. Another signed copy in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022.
W.E. Darwin 1864a.2. verso detail.
a.2. CDV with more of chest and shoulders visible, not in an oval but faded edges. Produced by S.J. Wiseman, Southampton, where William lived. Wiseman (1831-1914) started photography in 1863. By 1871 his business was at 15 Above Bar Street. William may also have taken the photographs of Henrietta and George Darwin that were produced by Wiseman dated by the editors of the CCD as c.1862. Lithographed by Brooks, Quart. Jrnl. of Sci. (1866), facing p. 151. Frontispiece to CCD12. See CCD24:464.
Printed on verso: maker's monogram and "S.J.WISEMAN / 9,Bernard Street / SOUTHAMPTON". The copy in CUL-DAR225.112 has written on the verso "Photod by W.E.D." and on recto mount "1866 / 1864?" The latter date has been added since microfilming in the 1960s. A copy in Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University, has clipped corners to fit an album(?).
W.E. Darwin 1864a.3. (H.E. Litchfield album)
a.3. CDV as a.1. but printed on verso maker's coat of arms and "SOUTH OF ENGLAND PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION / Late WISEMAN / 9, Bernard Street / SOUTHAMPTON / The negative is preserved and can be had enlarged up to life size." This company, run by A. Rider, operated from March 1865-69. Signed copy (? verso not seen so could be a.1.) in Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, has more background around head in the oval than all others seen.
W.E. Darwin 1864b.
(From a copy in a private collection)
b. Seated full-figure, three-quarter right profile, draped in cloak with blanket over knees and legs. From a collodion positive, on a small glass plate (7x5.8cm), with black varnish on the back. The original is in CUL-DAR257.3. There is a small patch of red sealing wax on the verso on lower right corner. First published in Browne, Power of place, 2002, facing p. 441, with the caption "one of the last portraits of" Darwin. The CUL catalogue suggests 1870s. However, the collodian process was superseded by tintypes during the 1860s. Darwin's hair and unusually short beard in this photograph appear identical with the preceding and following photographs by W.E. Darwin. By permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. It probably remained unprinted/reproduced because it was of poor quality.
W.E. Darwin 1864c. Detail. (H.E. Litchfield album)
c. Half-length three-quarter left profile. No printing on card mount. Darwin's beard is trimmed in the same manner as the preceding two photographs by W.E. Darwin. CDV in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022.
Edwards 1865a. Edwards 1865b. Edwards 1865c.
1865 Nov. Three photographs by Ernest Edwards. Taken in London. There was presumably a fourth. The first photograph was extremely widely reproduced. Darwin paid £1 for "E. Edwards Photo" on 2 Mar. 1866. Classed account book, Down House. See CCD13:37. Photographs from this sitting are sometimes incorrectly stated to have been taken by the London Stereoscopic Company, which only produced later prints. An 1867 photograph by Edwards of Alexander Tweedie, in the same studio chair, shows the legs and floor. Just visible behind the chair is the heavy metal base of a stand that held the head of the sitter steady during the long exposure.
Note the heavy base of the stand on the floor behind Tweedie who is sitting in the same studio chair.
a. Three-quarter left profile seated in a chair with curled arms. Frontispiece to CCD13. Variants seen:
Edwards 1865a.1.
a.1. CDV knees cropped away in an oval frame with "CHARLES DARWIN. M.A., F.R.S." / "STEREOSCOPIC COY COPYRIGHT" printed on recto mount in red with thin red border line around image. Printed in red on verso: Ornately framed publisher's logo with "PRIZE MEDAL FOR PORTRAITURE VIENNA EXHIBITION 1873" at top, with coats of arms, symbols for medals from Berlin, London, Dublin and New York and "PHOTOGRAPHERS TO H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, / TO H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. / SOLE PHOTOGRAPHERS TO THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION 1862 / THE LONDON/ STEREOSCOPIC & PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPANY. / 110 & 108, REGENT STREET. / AND / 54, CHEAPSIDE. / NEGATIVES ARE PRESERVED SOME YEARS & A REGISTER OF NAMES / KEPT. WHEN ORDERING FURTHER COPIES PLEASE STATE ABOUT / WHAT DATE THE PORTRAIT WAS TAKEN." National Library of Scotland, New York Academy of Medicine, etc. A CDV of another person on the indentical printed card stock is dated on verso 1878.
Edwards 1865a.2.
a.2. CDV barely cropped with "CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S." / "Stereoscopic Co. Copyright." printed on recto mount in green. Verso as a.1. but in green and minus the prize medal for 1873 line at top and text about negatives differs thus: "THIS NEGATIVE IS PRESERVED FOR FURTHER COPIES. / ENLARGEMENTS CAN AT ANY TIME BE PRODUCED / WITHOUT ANOTHER SITTING." A typographically identical card of the famous 'Siamese twins' Chang and Eng Bunker, who toured the UK in 1868, is signed by them (RR Auction). A CDV of another person on printed card stock with the identical verso by not recto text is dated 1872.
a.3. CDV, image not cropped. "STEREOSCOPIC COY. Copyright" printed on recto mount in red/maroon. Verso as a.2. but in red/maroon. Wellcome Library.
Edwards 1865a.4.
a.4. CDV with seat of chair and legs slightly faded away. No printing on recto but a large debossed stamp on the lower right corner of the photograph with "LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" in a shield. 1909 or before. NHM.
a.5. CDV with image in oval, hands and chair arm faded away.
Edwards 1865a.6.
a.6. CDV cropped/faded to head and chest only, in an oval, with "STEREOSCOPIC CO. Copyright." on recto mount in green. Verso, identical to a.2. Sotheby's Dec. 2022, lot 1035.
Edwards 1865a.7.
a.7. CDV legs faded away below hands but not in an oval. Red border line around card. On recto mount in red "CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S." (below this cropped in only copy seen) but same font as a.2. Verso as a.1.
b. Same as above but almost full face.
Edwards 1865b.1.
b.1. CDV uncropped with "Edwards & Bult 20, Baker St. W.", printed in black on recto mount (a partnership active only in 1868-69). On verso in black: "MESSRS. EDWARDS & BULT / 20, Baker St. / W." Extremely rare. A copy in the Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.
Edwards 1865c.
c. Three-quarter left profile almost indistinguishable from a cropped version of a. but in this one, part of Darwin's shirt and collar are visible as is his right shoulder. Only copy seen is under a mount so further details may be obscured. NHM.
L. Darwin c.1866.
c.1866 Darwin on his cob Tommy in front of Down House, by Leonard Darwin. Sometimes dated to 1866 (when Tommy was acquired) or 1867 and very often to 1868, based on the annotation on the verso of the copy in CUL. No contemporary evidence has been seen for any of these dates. However Darwin looks much more like his 1866 photographs here. Darwin was still riding Tommy in 1870. Exhibited at Christ's College in 1909, lent by W.E. Darwin. Not published during 19th century.
1. Albumen photograph, on display at Down House (EH88202292) is framed with a note by Darwin in ink: "Hurrah — no letters to day / C. D." Another copy, in CUL-DAR225.138, is inscribed on verso "Charles Darwin on Tommy at Down".
2. Albumen photograph mounted on card, 19.5x19.5cm (EH measurements of the mount?), inscribed on recto "Charles Darwin on Tommy" and on verso in another hand "Charles Darwin on Tommy". EH88207651
3. Albumen photograph mounted on card, CUL-DAR225.116, annotated in ink on recto mount "Charles Darwin" and on verso "H.E. Litchfield (c.1868)", the date added later in another hand. An annotation in another hand is "No 2". Least cropped copy/variant.
Anon c.1866-71.1.
c.1866-71 Half-length left profile by unknown photographer. Unusual light-coloured waistcoat. Apparently unknown and never reproduced in any work on Darwin.
1. CDV no text on recto, verso publisher's emblem "ALLEN. / No. 6 TEMPLE PLACE, BOSTON." (USA) Edward L. Allen (1830-1914) had an establishment at this address only from 1866-71 (The Boston directory (1866) and The Boston almanac and business directory (1867-71)). This does not indicate when the photograph was taken, but does establish an end date. Another CDV by Allen with the identical printed emblem on the verso is annotated in pencil "October 28th 1869". It is unknown how Allen acquired a negative or photograph of Darwin not seen elsewhere. It could have been taken by Rejlander who took photographs of Darwin in 1871 and who favoured profiles, however Rejlander's photographs always show the background. No other photographs sold by Allen of foreign notables have been found. He did reproduce drawings by the artist S.W. Rowse such as one of Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as a CDV of him.
Anon c.1866-71.2. (H.E. Litchfield album)
2. CDV with no printing on recto or verso. A copy in the H.E. Litchfield album sold at Reeman Dansie Auctioneers in 2022, from the estate of George Erasmus Darwin (1927-2017), written on verso: "No 16" and in blue crayon like others in the album: "HE Litchfield / 4 Bryanston / Street W." and in pencil "31 Kensington Sq W". The Litchfields lived at 2 Bryanston Street from 1872 which was renumbered by February 1878 to 4 Bryanston Street and purchased 31 Kensington Square in mid-1882.
Edwards 1866a. Edwards 1866b. Edwards 1866c. Edwards 1866d.
1866 Apr. 24 Four photographs by Ernest Edwards. Taken in London. Darwin paid Edwards £3 8s. 6d. on 5 Sept. 1866. Classed account book, Down House. Janet Browne, Power of place, 2002, p. 363, noted that during 1866 Darwin "paid out a total of £14 in small sums for photographs, nearly doubling his overall costs for 'Science' that year".
It has been claimed that stereograph photographs of Darwin were produced and that one of these is such a photograph. (Scientific American, vol. 253, no. 2, Aug. 1985, p. 66; Browne, Looking at Darwin: Portraits and the Making of an Icon. Isis, 100, no. 3 (2009), pp. 542-570.) This would mean that two photographs were taken simultaneously from slightly different angles. When such dual photographs are viewed through a stereoscope, they produce a three-dimensional effect. However, no actual stereoscopic photographs of Darwin, which are two images on the same card, have ever been found. Instead, standard CDVs by Edwards were sold by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company (1854-1922), as printed on the recto of the CDVs, which have been mistaken for stereoscopic photographs. However, the Company produced and sold standard photographs routinely, only some of their sales being of actual stereoscopic views. Famous persons with their names printed on the card were very common. They produced cartes de visite of Darwin until c.1881.
A stereograph photograph of the Exhibition of 1862 by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company.
A CDV of another person by London Stereoscopic with printed text on recto mount "STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" in black, similar to some Darwin cards, has an unusual verso which gives prices and details about sitting for a portrait. Given below.
Edwards 1866a.1. (NPG)
a. Left profile seated, right hand on left with fingers exposed, chair not visible, pince-nez visible. Verso blank. A large (28.3x24cm) print in CUL-DAR232.2 is inscribed in the negative (but reversed in the positive print) "Mr Darwin - 24-4-66". One of very few dated photographs. The copy in the NPG (x1500) has written on the recto mount "C. Darwin. Photo. E Edwards." Etching in Illustrated London News in 1871. Apparently not produced for sale.
Edwards 1866a.2. (collection of Fred Pajerski)
a.2. Carbon print, reversed and cropped to chest, tipped in to some variants of Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, La Photographie: Ses Origines, ses progrès, ses transformations. Paris: Didron & Lille: Chez L. Quarré, 1870, with the caption: "Photographie au charbon de M. Ernest Edwards, de Londres." With thanks to Steven F. Joseph for communicating this unknown variant.
a.3. Cropped above hands and printed in oval form with a gold border. Tunbridge Wells Museum 1936.01.14.
b. Left profile seated, right hand on left with fingers in sleeve, chairback visible, pince-nez not visible. Darwin to Wallace 5 Dec. 1869 "I like best the profile of Ernest Edwards". CCD17:515.
Edwards 1866b.1. (Natural History Museum)
b.1. Albumen silver print in variants of Reeve & Walford eds., Portraits of men of eminence in literature, science, and art, with biographical memoirs. The photographs from life, by Ernest Edwards. London: Lovell Reeve & Co., 1866, vol. 5, facing p. 49. F1856 Slightly cropped below.
Edwards 1866b.2. (H.E. Litchfield album)
b.2. CDV on recto mount "Ernest Edwards, 20, Baker St W." Verso blank. Least cropped variant seen. Copy in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022. A CDV of J.D. Hooker on identical card stock is signed and dated by him "1864."
b.3. CDV as above with no printing on recto mount.
c. Three-quarter left profile, top of Chairback not visible, fingers but not thumb in left sleeve. A light patch on the floor beneath the chair is probably where the stand to hold the sitter's head steady has been edited out.
Edwards 1866c.1. full page as published (left) and least cropped version seen (right).
c.1. Albumen silver print (8.8×6.5cm) in variants of Reeve & Walford eds., Portraits of men of eminence, 1866, vol. 5, facing p. 49. Legs of chair visible in some copies but not others. One copy seen has the chair legs cropped but reveals more of an umbrella(?) handle at bottom left than any other seen.
Edwards 1866c.2.
c.2. Albumen silver print, 9x6cm, in E. Walford ed., Representative men in literature, science and art: The photographic portraits from life by Ernest Edwards. London: Bennett, 1868, n.p. See CCD13:314-15. Different copies of the work have slightly differently cropped images. The one reproduced here is the least cropped variant seen. A cane or umbrella handle is just visible bottom left.
Edwards 1866c.3. with verso signed by Edwards and detail of debossed stamp (right). [A529 for higher resolution]
c.3. CDV with "E. Edwards 20 Baker St. W." printed on recto mount. Photograph is debossed stamped in the bottom right-hand corner "E. Edwards 20 Baker St." A copy in the collection of John van Wyhe is signed on verso in Edward's handwriting "Mr Ernest Edwards / 20 Baker Street. / London W." RHS Lindley Library, NPG, etc.
c.4. CDV as above but no debossed stamp.
Edwards 1866c.5.
c.5. CDV part of lower leg and chair leg cropped with "E. Edwards 20 Baker St. W." printed on recto mount. A copy in the Galton Papers at UCL is signed by Edwards on verso as c.3.
c.6. Same as above but cropped just above seat of chair.
Edwards 1866c.7.
c.7. CDV with lower legs and chair legs cropped, in oval frame, with green printing on recto and verso identical with Edwards 1865a.2. but with less ornate font on recto.
Edwards 1866c.8.
c.8. CDV, uncropped, with "STEREOSCOPIC COY. Copyright" printed on recto mount in black. Verso has green printing similar to Edwards 1865a.2. but with statement about negatives preserved etc. absent. A CDV of another person with the same printed card stock, except in red, is dated on verso "11/24/1885".
Edwards 1866c.9.
c.9. CDV, cropped just below right knee, in an oval. On recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S." / "STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" in green. Printed text on verso.
Edwards 1866c.10.
c.10. CDV with faded borders and no printing on recto mount but a large debossed stamp on the lower right corner of the photograph with "LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" in a shield. 1909 or before. NHM.
Edwards 1866c.12.
c.12. CDV cropped as with no printing on recto mount.
d. Same as above but legs not visible, right-hand fingers not in left sleeve. Pince-nez cord visible in this exposure but not the previous one. Engraved in 1868. A copy clipped of its text in the Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University is with a note by Darwin: "Charles Darwin, Down, Kent, Feb. 28, 1877. With Mr. Darwin's compliments".
Edwards 1866d.1.
d.1. Albumen silver print, 9x7cm, in variants of Reeve & Walford eds., Portraits of men of eminence, 1866, vol. 5, facing p. 49.
Edwards 1866d.2.
d.2. CDV with hands slightly less cropped than above. "Ernest Edwards. 20 Baker St. W." printed on recto mount in black. On verso "MESSRS EDWARDS & BULT / 20, Baker St. / W." Debossed stamp in lower right corner of photograph: "E. Edwards 20 Baker St."
Edwards 1866d.2.1.
d.2.1. As d.2. above but verso blank. No debossed stamp. Smithsonian Libraries, etc.
Edwards 1866d.3.
d.3. CDV with hands almost entirely visible, thus least cropped variant. Used here. On recto mount "EDWARDS & BULT 20, Baker St. W." Debossed stamp and verso as d.2. above. Clements Library. Some copies have a blue oval stamp on verso "PUBLISHED BY MARION & Co LONDON". Cards like Elliott & Fry 1871a.2. seen with the same stamp.
Edwards 1866d.4.
d.4. CDV cropped/faded to almost head and shoulders only with "STEREOSCOPIC CO. COPYRIGHT." on recto mount in green. A typographically identical card for another person is dated 1872.
Edwards 1866d.4.1.
d.4.1. CDV cropped/faded below middle of chest with "STEREOSCOPIC COY. Copyright." on recto mount in green. NPG, etc.
Edwards 1866d.5.
d.5. CDV with hands and lower body cropped, in an oval. "CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S." / "STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" on recto mount in red with border line around image. Verso as Edwards 1865a.6. This style of printed card dates to 1873 or before.
Edwards 1866d.6.
d.6. CDV with hands and lower body cropped/faded away and "CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S." / "STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" on recto mount in red and border line around image, not in an oval. Verso like Edwards 1865a.2. but with "PRIZE MEDAL FOR PORTRAITURE / VIENNA EXHIBITION 1873." and two medallions at the top. A copy seen has written on verso "London. Oct. 19th 1876." There is typographically identical card for "the late" J.S. Mill who died in 1873.
d.7. CDV as d.4. above but with Darwin in oval frame.
d.8. CDV as above but with printed text in green and verso identical to d.2.
Edwards 1866d.9.
d.9. CDV with hands and lower body cropped in oval frame with "CHARLES DARWIN. M.A., F.R.S. / LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPY COPYRIGHT." on recto mount in maroon. Verso of many copies not seen. Verso here supplied from the card of another person, in identical oval, which is typographically identical on the verso except for Darwin's name.
Edwards 1866d.9.1.
d.9.1. As above but oval with faded image outline. Lines of printed text on recto closer together with large gap between image and printed text.
Edwards 1866d.10.
d.10. CDV uncropped with "STEREOSCOPIC CO.Y. Copyright." on recto mount in green. Verso as Edwards 1866c.8. NPG, etc.
Edwards 1866d.10.1.
d.10.1. CDV cropped through hands, printed text as above but in maroon(?). Verso as Edwards 1865a.2. A CDV of another person on printed card stock with the identical verso by not recto text is dated 1872.
d.11. CDV cropped as above, not in oval frame, with "STEREOSCOPIC CO. COPYRIGHT." on recto mount in green, verso as Edwards 1865a.2.
Edwards 1866d.9.12.
d.12. CDV cropped/faded below elbows with no printing on recto mount but a large debossed stamp on the lower right corner of the photograph with "LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COY. COPYRIGHT" in a shield. 1909 or before. NHM.
d.13. Magic lantern slide (reversed) by George Washington Wilson. See K.D. Wells, Lincoln-Darwin bicentennial 1809-2009. Magic Lantern Gazette, vol. 20, no. 4, 2008, pp. 3-12.
Cameron 1868a. Cameron 1868b. Cameron 1868c. Cameron 1868d.
1868 Jul.-Aug. Four photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron; taken at Freshwater, Isle of Wight in two sittings. Several writers have mistakenly stated that Cameron took two or three photographs of Darwin. He recorded £4 7s. for photographs on 19 Aug. 1868, and later made other payments for further copies. Classed Account Books, Down House (CUL-DAR265.10-13). Cameron also photographed Erasmus and Horace Darwin during this visit. Cameron registered Darwin photographs for copyright but some of her descriptions, National Archives, Kew, are not clear enough to unambiguously assign. Those not assigned by J. Cox & Colin Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron: The complete photographs, 2003, are below.
"Photograph of Charles Darwin, ¾ face, bust. No 1". 3 Aug. 1868. COPY 1/14/571."
"Photograph of Charles Darwin, nearly profile, bust. No 2". 3 Aug. 1868. COPY 1/14/572."
"Photograph of Charles Darwin, bust, nearly profile, with long beard. No 1". 10 Aug. 1868 COPY 1/14/582."
"Photograph of Charles Darwin, ¾ face, bust, with long beard. No 2". 10 Aug. 1868. COPY 1/14/583."
"Photograph of Charles Darwin profile with part of second eyebrow showing". 6 Feb. 1874. COPY 1/24/211."
"Photograph of profile portrait of Charles Darwin only second eyebrow shown". 6 Feb. COPY 1/24/212."
"Photograph of Charles Darwin nearly ¾ face with second eye and second eyebrow showing". 6 Feb. 1874. COPY 1/24/213."
Ten years later prints were still commercially available, see CCD26:280. Cameron's 1868 catalogue gave the price range of 7s. 6d. to c.14s. Some prints of 1868a carried the lithographed line in Darwin's handwriting "I like this photograph much better than any other which has been taken of me. / Ch. Darwin" on the recto mount. This is often mistaken for a handwritten inscription. LL3:92. Purportedly (Cox, p. 317) a copy in a private collection in the UK is actually inscribed thus by Darwin. Darwin's opinion of this photograph as his favourite is very often quoted. Few writers today are aware of the fact that Darwin also declared photographs by Edwards, Elliott & Fry, Rejlander and L. Darwin 1878a as the best photographs of himself. Darwin very free with his superlatives. Multiple signatures of Darwin were lithographed onto different photographs and variants by Cameron. Prints of 1868a are very variable. Some have a lithographed line by Cameron, in others the text is hand written by her. Glass negatives (Cameron's own?) are at Down House, EH88202894 and EH88202895; as well as two framed prints (not identified in the catalogue): frame size 49x38.5cm EH88204450 and frame size 55x47.5cm EH88204436 (verso, annotation in pencil "presented by Mr. & Mrs. Nicholls, Downe".). See also Cox & Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron, 2003, p. 317, CCD16 and J. Browne, "I could have retched all night", 1998 and Power of place, 2002, pp. 298ff.
a. Half-length, left profile. Copyright registration: "Photograph of Charles Darwin, profile". 24 Aug. 1868. COPY 1/14/611; carbon print copyright 18 Oct. 1875. Cox 645. In the 1890s John Murray acquired the copyright of the image.
a.1. Albumen silver print. 28.5x22.7cm. On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph Copy right Julia Margaret Cameron". On verso "From glass negative at Down House P.J. Gautry Feb '78". CUL-DAR225.139.
Cameron 1868a.2.
a.2. Albumen silver print. 29.9×24cm (image), 46×31.5cm (mount). Norman Album (compiled by Cameron 1864-9). Recto mount inscribed by Cameron in pencil: "Ch: Darwin. / He says 'He likes this photograph better / than any other that has been taken of him'". Album dedicated 7 Sept. 1869.
Detail of the lithographed line from Darwin with the Colnaghi blind stamp in the top centre. (Sotheby's Dec. 2020, lot 118 (Weissberg copy)). Detail of blind stamp from another copy (right).
a.3. Albumen silver print. 28.5x22.7cm (frame 62x52cm). On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph Copy right Julia Margaret Cameron Fresh Water / I like this Photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. / Ch. Darwin". The lithographed lines by Darwin are in black. Blind stamp of P.D. Colnaghi's London gallery where her photographs were for sale: "REGISTERED PHOTOGRAPH / LONDON / SOLD BY / MESSRS COLNAGHI / 14 PALL MALL EAST". The first of her photographs of Darwin was on display there by 27 Jul. 1868. Down House EH88204438, etc.
Cameron 1868a.3.1.
a.3.1. Albumen silver print, 28.5x22.7cm, mounted on gilt-ruled card (36.8x31.75cm). On recto mount "From Life. registered photograph. copyright. Julia Margaret Cameron Fresh Water . Freshwater 1868". Blind stamp of P.D. Colnaghi on separated card with lithographed "I like this Photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. / Ch. Darwin". AbeBooks 2.2023.
Cameron 1868a.4.
a.4. Albumen silver print. 28.5x22.7cm. On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph copy right Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868 / I like this Photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. / Ch. Darwin".
a.5. Albumen silver print. 28.5x22.7cm. On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph copy right Julia Margaret Cameron. / Ch. Darwin". Blind stamp of Colnaghi.
Cameron 1868a.5.1.
a.5.1. Albumen silver print. 51x40cm (mount). On recto mount hand written: "From Life
Registered PhotographRegistered Photograph Copyright Julia Margaret Cameron." Blind stamp of Colnaghi. Royal Photographic Society Collection, V&A.
Cameron 1868a.6.
a.6. Albumen silver print. Gold border line around image. On recto mount "I like this Photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. / Ch. Darwin" with no Cameron text. Kew.
Cameron 1868a.7.
a.7. Albumen silver print, 28.5x22.7cm. Reversed. On recto mount "From life Copyright Julia Margaret Cameron". Blind stamp of Colnaghi. Gernsheim Collection, Harry Ransom Center.
Cameron 1868a.7.1.
a.7.1. Albumen print, 41.5x35cm (mount). On recto mount handwritten: "Copyright The Cameron Studio, 70 Mortimer St. W." in blue(?) ink and below in pencil "Charles Darwin" in an unknown hand. Gold border line at bottom of mount. V&A RPS.638-2017.
Cameron 1868a.8.
a.8. CDV on recto mount lithographed "Ch. Darwin" and below in red: "From life. Copy right. Julia Margaret Cameron." with gold lithograph border. Verso blank.
Cameron 1868a.9.
Cameron 1868a.9. (H.E. Litchfield album)
Cameron 1868a.9. Unsigned copy. (H.E. Litchfield album)
Cameron 1868a.9. Christie's East: The M. Wesley Marans Collection of Signed Photographs. 17 April 1996.
a.9. CDV on recto mount "From life. Copy right. Julia Margaret Cameron." in red with gold lithograph border around card. The Cameron text is the identical printing as a.8. Verso blank. Below signed "Ch. Darwin" in some copies. Two copies in the H.E. Litchfield album sold at Reeman Dansie Auctioneers in 2022, one written on verso in pencil "H.E. Litchfield / 31 Kensington Sq W".
Cameron 1868a.9.1. Detail.
a.9.1. CDV on recto mount handwritten: "From life Registered Copy Right. Julia Margaret Cameron" with gold lithograph border. No Darwin signature. Verso blank. Copy in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022.
a.10. CDV on no printing recto mount. This copy signed "Ch. Darwin".
Cameron 1868a.11. (Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum)
a.11. Cabinet card, 11.2x7.7cm, with handwritten on recto mount (not lithographed) "From Life registered Photograph Julia M. Cameron" signed in black ink: "Ch. Darwin" and linear blind-stamp "REGISTERED PHOTOGRAPH" by print-seller William Spooner. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum.
Cameron 1868a.12.
a.12. Carbon print from 1874, produced by the Autotype Company, 26.7x21cm (image), 51.7x43.5cm (matt) with no printing on matt. Sometimes bearing the company's debossed stamp on the bottom right corner. Prints sold for 7s 6d.
a.13. Carbon print (reversed) cited in Cox & Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron, 2003, p. 317.
Cameron 1868a.14.
a.14. Photogravure. 27x21.4cm. Printed beneath image "Charles Darwin. / (from life)". In 1893 Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his friends a series of 25 portraits ... in photogravure from the negatives, 1893.
a.15. Carbon print 27.5x20.6cm. Handwritten on recto mount "from Mrs. Julia Margaret. Cameron's negative / 543". "This is not an. original Cameron. Modern print from her negative". Eastman Museum. Possibly an example of a.12.
a.16. Albumen print (2 copies). Smaller size. Cameron album of 112 miniature prints of her larger works, prepared by her in 1869. National Science and Media Museum.
a.17. Carbon print? with "14-1439" in white in lower right corner of image.
Cameron 1868a.18.
a.18. Photomechanical print, 16x14cm. Below image: "Mrs. Cameron†, London, fec. / Given to / Mr George Bunsen / by Mrs Cameron / I like this photograph very / much better than any other / which has been taken of me. / Ch. Darwin". Photographische Rundschau: Zeitschrift für Freunde der Photographie, c. 1896. Rijksmuseum.
a.19. A framed copy in the NHM has written on the back of the frame: "A reduction by Messrs Clowes & Sons of a (?) whole-plate silver print of Darwin. The negative was taken by Mrs. Julia Cameron, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, about 1868. The copyright is the property of John Murray, Albermarle St., W." with a label "146." 1909.
b. Albumen silver print, half-length, three-quarter left profile. Engraved by E. Ade in 1875. Not included in Cox & Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron: The complete photographs, 2003. No CDVs of this seen.
Cameron 1868b.1. (Chicago Art Institute)
b.1. Albumen silver print, 30.5×23.8cm (image), 44.1×35.9cm (mount). Hand written on recto mount "From Life . Copy right Julia Margaret Cameron." The rarest of the Cameron Darwin photographs. Chicago Art Institute.
Cameron 1868b.2. (Corrêa do Lago collection)
b.2. Albumen silver print in different size? Apparently signed by Darwin. Corrêa do Lago collection.
Cameron 1868c. (Bonhams 4 Dec. 4 2019, lot 52, once R.B. Freeman's)
c. Albumen print 34x25cm. Head and shoulders, three-quarter right profile. Signed on mount "from Life Registered Photograph (copy right) Julia Margaret Cameron". Colnaghi's blind stamp. No CDVs of this seen. Beard looks pointy. A blanket is just visible draped over shoulders. Copyright registration: "Photograph of Charles Darwin, ¾ face, bust". 23 Jul. 1868. COPY 1/14/530. Cox 644. Almost unknown until published as the frontispiece to R.B. Freeman's Charles Darwin: A companion, 1978.
Cameron 1868c.1. (Sotheby's 9 Dec. 2022, lot 1020)
c.1. Albumen silver print. 34.5x25.3cm. On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph (copyright) Julia Margaret Cameron / Ch. Darwin". Blind stamp of Colnaghi. Verso blank. A copy sold at S. Maas & Co. 1973 had on verso "E. Darwin / Traverston / West Road / Cambridge".
Cameron 1868c.2. Details of lower mount.
c.2. Albumen silver print. On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph copy right Julia Margaret Cameron / Ch. Darwin". All hand written. Note lack of parenthesis around "copyright". Linear blind-stamp "REGISTERED PHOTOGRAPH" by William Spooner. Private collection.
c.3. Albumen silver print. On recto mount "From Life Registered Photograph (copy right) Julia Margaret Cameron". No lithographed signature of Darwin unless cropped off. Colnaghi stamp.
c.4. CDV according to Cox & Ford, Julia Margaret Cameron, 2003, p. 317.
d. Albumen silver print, half-length left profile with cloak or blanket over shoulders, eyes directed upwards. Cox 646.
Cameron 1868d.1. (Once Joseph Parslow's copy. Private collection)
Cameron 1868d.1. Detail of Cameron's writing.
d.1. Albumen silver print, image 33.2x25.7cm, mount 50.5x40.6cm. On gilt-ruled card mount. On recto mount hand written: "From Life Registered Photograph Julia Margaret Cameron." and signed "Ch. Darwin" by the sitter. Note absence of "copyright". Blind stamp of Colnaghi bottom centre of mount. This copy was given to Joseph Parslow on his retirement in 1875 and remained in the family for many years. Now in a private collection. Virginia Wolf's copy was sold at Sotheby's 8 March 1974, lot 114. Similar copies in NPG and Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A.
Cameron 1868d.1. (Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A)
Cameron 1868d.2.
d.2. CDV on recto mount in red "From life. Copy right. Julia Margaret Cameron." Same lithographed Cameron text as abov and gold border like other Cameron CDVs. No lithographed signature of Darwin.
d.3. CDV, no markings on mount. Verso blank. Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library.
d.4. Albumen print (2 copies). smaller size. Cameron album of 112 miniature prints of her larger works, prepared by her in 1869. National Science and Media Museum.
Elliott & Fry 1869a. Elliott & Fry 1869b.
1869 Two CDVs by Elliott & Fry. Joseph John Elliott (1835-1903) and Clarence Edmund Fry (1840-97) established a studio at 55 Baker Street, London, in 1863 and remained in business long after the death of Darwin. From Feb. 1881 they sometimes added 56 Baker Street to their address in newspaper adverts. Bottom edge of pince-nez just visible under jacket in both a. and b. Darwin recorded payments to Elliott & Fry on 25 Jul. 1869 and 5 Apr. 1870. Account books-banking account, Down House. Darwin to A.B. Meyer 27 Nov. [1869]: "Messrs Elliot & Fry are the last who have taken me, & they came down here on purpose". CCD17:506 and CCD19:334. By far the rarest of Elliott & Fry Darwin photographs.
a. Half-length left profile. Darwin wrote to Wallace on 5 Dec. 1869 "I like best the profile of Ernest Edwards, or a 3/4 face vignette which Messrs Elliott & Fry (Baker St) & which is a strong likeness & pleasing". CCD17:515. Variants seen:
Elliott & Fry 1869a.1.
a.1. Cabinet card with arched top. Shows Darwin's right hand. On recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W".
Elliott & Fry 1869a.2. Details of touching up to beard and printing on mount.
a.2. CDV, with Darwin's right hand cropped. Printed on recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB.12.1809 DEID [sic] April 19.1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W", verso: the Sovereign's coat of arms and "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55 & 56, Baker Street, London / W." and in small print: "Marion, Imp, Paris", one of the largest firms to sell photographs, photographic paper and the whole range of photographic equipment. A copy in CUL-DAR257.10 has "HE Litchfield abt 1870 1869" written on the verso in her handwriting.
b. Full face, three-quarter length looking at camera with legs crossed, wearing corduroy trousers.
b.1. CDV with arched top. No printing on recto mount.
Elliott & Fry 1869b.2. Details of touching up to beard and of printing on mount.
Elliott & Fry 1869b.2.
b.2. Cabinet card with "CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12 1809 DIED APRIL 19 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W" on recto mount. Verso identical to a.2. above. Copy in CUL-DAR225.117 has "HE Litchfield abt 1870 1869" on verso.
A CDV with the same text after Darwin's name and dates and identical verso of the Duke of Argyll is signed and dated by him "April 1882". Which suggests that the other Elliott & Fry cards with their name and address in this format are also around 1882.
Rejlander 1871a. Rejlander 1871b.
1871a-b Two photographs by Swedish-born photographer Oscar Gustav Rejlander (1813-75). Since 1869 his studio was at 1 Albert Mansions, Victoria Street, London, on the first and second storey. These two photographs have almost never been reproduced. Darwin to Elliott & Fry 23 Apr. [1871] "I lately was several times with Mr Rejlander, who was assisting me on a scientific subject, &, who took so much trouble for my sake that I gladly complied with his request to take several photos: of me, and these I imagine he intends to sell to any purchasers". CCD19:334. This suggests that both sittings took place during Darwin's stay in London and visits to Rejlander from 1-5 Apr. 1871. Darwin recorded the following payments to Rejlander in his Classed account books (Down House MS): £5 5s on 2 May 1871; £7 7s on 30 Oct. 1871 under the heading "Gifts and annual subscriptions"; £7 7s on 14 Mar. 1872 for "Photos"; and £1 1s on 22 Aug. 1872. There must have been another payment in c. Aug. 1871 of £1 1s, and this was clearly for CDVs of Darwin. See Rejlander to Darwin 11 Nov. 1871 thanking Darwin for "the cheque" and "I have sent a bundle of cards for the £1.1 and thank you". CCD19:680. Some of these payments include photographs provided by Rejlander for Darwin's work on Expression, which included photographs from and even of Rejlander. CUL-DAR53.1 & CUL-DAR225. In 1874 Darwin paid him another £2 for photographs. Rejlander also photographed W.E. Darwin and R.B. Litchfield. Darwin Archive CUL.
a. Three-quarter left profile, seated, legs not crossed, resting right arm on a desk with a pencil in right hand, pince-nez visible on single-breasted corduroy waistcoat.
Rejlander 1871a.1. (Private collection)
a.1. Albumen silver print. Least cropped variant. Private collection. Cover of this book.
Rejlander 1871a.2. (Moderna Museet, Stockholm)
a.2. Albumen silver print. As above but slightly cropped up to Darwin's knees, 19.5x14cm. Moderna Museet, Stockholm, ex-collection of Helmer Bäckström.
b. As above but legs crossed and facing more to the left, pince-nez fully visible, but reversed from a. Reproduced in Prodger, Darwin's camera, 2009, p. 159, where Darwin's relationship with Rejlander is discussed.
Rejlander 1871b.1. (Moderna Museet, Stockholm)
b.1. Albumen silver print. 19.4x13.5cm. Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Rejlander 1871b.2.
b.2. CDV cropped to head and shoulders only. On recto mount "O. G. REJLANDER, No. 1 ALBERT MANSIONS / VICTORIA STREET. S.W." On verso "O. G. REJLANDER, / No. 1, ALBERT MANSIONS, / VICTORIA STREET, S.W." A copy sold at online auction in Canada in 2004.
Rejlander 1871b.3. (California Museum of Photography)
b.3. As above but no printing on recto mount. Verso blank. Copy seen has a label pasted on verso: "DALTON & LUCY, / Booksellers to the Queen, / 28 Cockspur St. Charing Cross."
Rejlander 1871c. Rejlander 1871d.3. Rejlander 1871f.
1871c-e Four photographs by Oscar Gustav Rejlander. Darwin's hair, beard, clothing and prop furniture are different from the other sitting with Rejlander. Darwin to ? 10 May [1871]: apparently described c. and d. as "two of the best photographs which have been made of me". CCD19:375. Darwin gave signed copies as gifts. See also the letter to an unknown photographer in CCD19:475.
c. Right profile, head and shoulders. Engraved in Nature, 1874; The Graphic 1875 and 1882.
Rejlander 1871c.1. (H.E. Litchfield album)
c.1. CDV with no printing on recto or verso. Extends slightly further down the torso than those below but Darwin's back slightly cropped. A copy in CUL-DAR225.114 has Rejlander's name and address written on the verso in his own handwriting. A copy for sale by Brick Walk Bookshop (Hartford, CT) in 2013 is signed by Darwin, has written on the verso Rejlander's name and address in his own handwriting and "Received June 12, 1871 at Toledo, O. from Mr. Darwin in a private letter dated May 27." by recipient F.E. Abbott. See Darwin to Abbot 27 May [1871] CCD19:400. Two copies in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022.
Rejlander 1871c.2. (Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Argentina)
c.2. CDV as above but cropped just below the shoulder. Darwin sent a copy signed "Charles Darwin" on recto mount to the Academia Nacional de Ciencias of Argentina in 1879. See Darwin to Hendrik Weyenbergh 18 Mar. 1879 CCD27:117. Published in Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 64, no. 1 (Feb. 2009): 1-180. A194.
Rejlander 1871c.3. Detail of verso design.
c.3. A carbon print cabinet card in CUL-DAR257.4 has debossed stamp on the bottom right of the photograph "AUTOTYPE COMPANY" which was at 35 Rathbone Place, London (est. 1868). Printed on verso: "Copyright / Marion, Imp Paris. Déposé". Darwin's back has not been cropped out. This print is very fine, apparently not cropped, and is the one given here. Reproduced by permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.
d. Left profile to knees, seated, hands clasped on lap, pince-nez visible. Only this one was registered for copyright, on 12 Apr. 1871, described as: "Photograph of Charles Darwin left side profile, light on the face, seated, one hand enclosing the other". National Archives, COPY 1/17/244. Engraved in The London Journal in 1872. Frontispiece CCD19.
Rejlander 1871d.1. verso signed by Rejlander. [A289 for higher resolution]
d.1. CDV with no printing on recto or verso. Right chair arm cropped out. Rejlander often wrote his name and address on the verso of his CDVs. Copies in the collection of John van Wyhe and CUL-DAR257.14 have "O.G. Rejlander / 1 Albert Mansions / Victoria Street SW." in his handwriting on verso. A copy sold at Christie's in 2014 for £30,000 is inscribed by Darwin to his son-in-law R.B. Litchfield 17 November 1879. A copy sold at Sotheby's in 2022 (lot 1032) has "Copyright" written on recto mount in an unknown hand and is signed on verso "Ch. Darwin" and "O.G. Rejlander" in their respective hands. Darwin signed copies now in the Waller Manuscript Collection, Uppsala University Library and the Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University. Other copies signed by Darwin were offered for sale by Gerard A.J. Stodolski, Inc., Sotheby's 2018 and 2020 and AbeBooks in 2022. There is an unsigned family album copy in the Huntington Library. Some of these Rejlander cards without printing have a larger are of blank mount beneath the image than the one reproduced here. These may represent another production variant.
Rejlander 1871d.2.
d.2. CDV on recto mount "O. G. REJLANDER, No. 1, ALBERT MANSIONS, / VICTORIA STREET. S.W. / COPYRIGHT" on verso "O. G. REJLANDER. / No. 1, ALBERT MANSIONS, / VICTORIA STREET, S.W." Right chair arm just visible. Doyle Auctions 2016; another copy in the H.E. Litchfield album.
Rejlander 1871d.2.1.
d.2.1. CDV on recto mount "O. G. REJLANDER, No. 1, ALBERT MANSIONS, / VICTORIA STREET. S.W." "Copyright" not present on this card variant. Verso "O. G. REJLANDER, / No. 1, ALBERT MANSIONS / VICTORIA STREET, S.W."
Rejlander 1871d.2. and detail of blind stamp.
d.3. A carbon print cabinet card debossed stamp on the bottom right of the photograph "AUTOTYPE COMPANY". On verso "Autotype Company Copyright Marion, Imp Paris Deposé". A copy in CUL-DAR225.118 is very fine and much less cropped than those published by Rejlander. This is therefore the version reproduced above by permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. A 10.2x7.7cm copy on a larger mount sold at Bonhams in 2020 which sold for US$12,575 is signed and dated by Darwin "Charles Darwin / May 1. 1881.—" in blue ink on the recto mount.
e. CDV, half-length, head and shoulders, full face, looking left. Pince-nez and cord prominent. I am aware of this photograph due to the kindness of Gene Kritsky who shared a copy.
Rejlander 1871f. (H.E. Litchfield album)
f. CDV, half-length, right profile. Back of chair almost fully visible. Copy in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022. No printing on recto or verso. Written on verso: "O.G. Rejlander / 1 Albert Mansions / Victoria Street SW." in his hand and in blue crayon like others in the album: "HE Litchfield / 4 Bryanston / St / W."
Elliott & Fry 1871a. Elliott & Fry 1871b.
1871 Two Elliott & Fry CDVs. Darwin to Elliott & Fry 23 Apr. [1871]: "If you really think it worth while to come down, I shall be happy to give you a sitting & aid in any way…If you do come, be so kind as to let me know a day or two before." CCD19:334 And a postcard in the collection of Gene Kritsky from Darwin to Elliott & Fry postmarked 2 Aug. 1871: "Many thanks for the Photographs which are very good." CCD19:523. See also CCD19:475. The signature on this postcard seems to be the very one used for the lithographed signature on the Elliott & Fry 1874 CDVs below.
Postcard from Darwin to Elliott & Fry 2 Aug. 1871. This signature was lithographed onto later Darwin CDVs by Elliott & Fry. (Courtesy of Gene Kritsky)
a. Three-quarter right profile, sharply trimmed moustache, speckled waistcoat with thick buttons, pince-nez and cord not visible. Hands not visible in almost all prints. Engraved by Weger, Leipzig, in 1871. No clearly posthumously produced cards have been found.
Elliott & Fry 1871a.1.
a.1. CDV on recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER ST. / PORTMAN SQE.", on verso "Elliott & Fry / 55, Baker Street / PORTMAN SQUARE. W." followed by debossed stamp "MARION & CO. LONDON." A copy in the Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, has Chairback just visible as is top of left hand, unlike other prints. A copy seen is stamped on verso by photographer P.E. Chappuis, 69, Fleet Street, London. CDVs of other persons printed on the identical card blank are signed on verso Sept. 1871, Jan. 1872, Oct. 1872 and Sept. 1873.
a.2. CDV on recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER ST. PORTMAN SQUARE", on verso monogram and "ELLIOTT & FRY / 55, Baker Street. / PORTMAN SQUARE.W." Chairback just visible.
Elliott & Fry 1871a.3. (Science Museum)
Elliott & Fry 1871a.3. Detail.
a.3. CDV all as c.2. above but verso lacks "W." after "Square". Two identical cards for other persons seen are dated 1866 on verso.
a.4. CDV as a.2. but chairback not visible.
Elliott & Fry 1871a.6.
a.6. CDV with no printing on recto or verso. A copy in the collection of John van Wyhe has poor resolution and was most likely pirated. Chairback not visible.
Elliott & Fry 1871b. Detail showing crudely touched-up image and verso with symbol of Order of the Garter etc.
b. As above, looking slightly upward, pince-nez almost fully visible. On recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB.12.1809 DEID [sic] April 19.1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W", same layout (also verso) and typographical error as in Elliott & Fry 1869a.2. A copy in CUL-DAR257.11 has "HE Litchfield abt 1869 1870" written on verso in blue crayon. Such late cartes sometimes had fading negatives retouched, as here, with rather crude markings to darken or lend texture to Darwin's hair and beard. Extremely rare. An almost identical card (except with "No. ...." on lower left ov verso) is signed and dated Aug. 1883.
Wallich 1871a. Wallich 1871b. Wallich 1871c.
1871 Three photographs by George Charles Wallich, Trevor House, 2 Warwick Gardens, Kensington. Registered for copyright 3 Jul. 1871. Darwin was in London during parts of Jun.-Jul. and Wallich visited Down in May. Darwin declined for reasons of ill health to go to London to be photographed by Wallich in 1869 for inclusion in his Eminent men of the day. Scientific series, 1870. Darwin to Wallich 18 Apr. [1869] CCD17:185.
Previously overlooked, this session is mentioned in a letter from Emma Darwin to her sister Elizabeth Wedgwood in June 1871: 'Charles went a tremendous journey to Dr — to be photoed to-day, which he grudged heartily till he fell in love with Mrs —, and found how desperately poor they looked with their eight children; so he will order a large batch, and I have advised him never to sit again as long as he lives.' Emma Darwin 1904, vol. 2, p. 245.
In the copyright registration descriptions below, "a quarter plate" refers to glass plate negatives divided into four quarters so that each plate could take four exposures. This is why most of the photographs of Darwin are in groups of two or four per sitting. None of the Wallich photographs are preserved in the National Archives with the copyright registration. Rarely reproduced. Prints by Wallich have faded badly.
a. "Photograph of Charles Darwin Esq. FRS on a quarter plate, head and shoulders, ¾ face looking towards his left". National Archives, COPY 1/17/499. Heavy shadows around eyes, pince-nez visible. Woodcut in Gardeners' Chron., (6 Mar. 1875). Variants seen:
Two copies of Wallich 1871a.1. Left from the Linnean Society of London. Right, a signed copy sold at Christie's in 2007.
a.1. CDV on recto mount: "Dr. Wallich, Trevor House, 2, Warwick Gardens, Kensington." Printed on verso: "DR WALLICH, / TREVOR HOUSE. / 2, WARWICK GARDENS, / KENSINGTON, / W." See Darwin to O. Kratz 8 Sept. [1871] CCD19:562, n2. A copy signed by Darwin sold (with a letter and other photographs) at Christie's in 2005 for £7,800. Another signed copy in H.E. Litchfield album, Reeman Dansie Auctioneers 2022.
a.1.1. CDV as above but no mount visible, presumably excised. Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University. Mentioned again below.
Wallich 1871a.2.
a.2. CDV on recto mount: "W. & D. DOWNEY COPYRIGHT". On verso "W & D DOWNEY, / PHOTOGRAPHERS TO HER MAJESTY [in 1862] 9, Eldon Square, / NEWCASTLE ON TYNE. / LONDON STUDIO, 61 EBURY St. EATON SQUARE / Portraits taken by appointment." with seven coats of arms. Card mount deboss stamped on verso "MARION & CO. LONDON". Less cropped than the Wallich version above, hence this is the variant reproduced here. The firm of William and Daniel Downey began around 1855 and opened a studio at Eldon Square, Newcastle in 1863 and in 1872 at 57 & 61 Ebury Street, London, the address printed on the verso of these cards. An identical card seen is dated "April [18]76". Another is dated "July 27/[18]75".
Wallich 1871a.3.
a.3. CDV with no printing and dark mount.
b. "Photograph of Charles Darwin Esq. FRS on a quarter plate, head and shoulders, rather more than ¾ face looking towards his left".
Wallich 1871b.1.
b.1. CDV on recto mount "W. & D. Downey Copyright" exactly as a.2. as is verso imprint. A copy in the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, has written on verso "Bought N.Y. Jan. 1874". Extremely rare.
c. "Photograph of Charles Darwin Esq. FRS on a quarter plate, head and shoulders, front face, eyes directed a little towards his right".
Wallich 1871c.1.
c.1. CDV head only, body cropped/faded away. On recto mount: "Dr. WALLICH, TREVOR HOUSE, 2, WARWICK GARDENS, KENSINGTON." On verso "Dr. WALLICH, / TREVOR HOUSE. / 2, WARWICK GARDENS. / KENSINGTON, / W." Copy in H.E. Litchfield album sold at Reeman Dansie Auctioneers in 2022. Extremely rare.
Barraud & Jerrard. c.1873a Barraud & Jerrard. c.1873b.
c.1873 Two(?) half-length three-quarter left profile photographs by Barraud & Jerrard, 96 Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London (active 1873-80). Darwin's beard looks thin in the centre. Essentially unknown. Possibly taken at the same time as the undated photograph of Emma Darwin by Barraud & Jerrard (CUL-DAR225.77 and Huntington Library).
a.1. Cabinet card with parts of Darwin's face, eyebrows and beard retouched. No pince-nez string visible. In an album so mount not visible. Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Barraud & Jerrard. c.1873a.2.
a.2. Cabinet card as above. Right eye appears to be cross-eyed to the right- probably from editing of the negative to enhance a poor exposure. On recto mount "BARRAUD & JERRARD" in brown. On verso "BARRAUD & JERRARD / 96 Gloucester Place / Portman Square. W. / Marion, Imp. Paris". Border line with rounded edges around recto and verso.
Barraud & Jerrard. c.1873a.3.
a.3. Cabinet card as a.2. above but cropped lower down so handkerchief just visible in jacket pocket.
b. Image almost the same as above except a pince-nez string and handkerchief are visible (lacking in a.) and the eyes appear to be directed differently.
Barraud & Jerrard. c.1873b.1.
b.1. Cabinet card. More closely cropped to head and shoulders than a. Card mount uniform with c.1873a.2.
Barraud & Jerrard. c.1873b.1. Detail. Note the eyes.
Elliott & Fry 1874a. Elliott & Fry 1874b. Elliott & Fry 1874c. Elliott & Fry 1874d.
1874 Four photographs by Elliott & Fry. Darwin wearing spotted waistcoat. Probably taken 10-17 Jan. in London. Some cartes seen of a. and d. have the identical lithographed signature "C. Darwin" on the recto mount, often mistaken for (and advertised or sold as) handwritten.
a. Half-length right profile. Pince-nez cord and handkerchief visible. Engraved in Popular Science Monthly in 1876. An engraved woodblock of this from W. & R. Chambers is in the National Museum of Scotland, T.2011.56.162. This photograph (reversed) was the model for the engraving on the Bank of England's £10 note from 2000-18 (not one by Julia Margaret Cameron as often claimed).
Elliott & Fry 1874a.1.
a.1. CDV cropped to head and chest only in oval, slight retouching to Darwin's hair. On recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY, 55, BAKER ST W". On verso "ELLIOTT & FRY / 55,BAKER STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, / LONDON. W." Identical cards have been seen dated 1874-5.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.2. A copy signed by Darwin.
a.2. CDV on recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55, BAKER ST. / PORTMAN SQE.". Verso: "ELLIOTT & FRY, / 55, BAKER STREET / PORTMAN SQUARE. W." as Elliott & Fry 1871a.5.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.3.
a.3. CDV, image with arched top. On recto mount lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and printed "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55, BAKER ST.". On verso symbol of Order of the Garter and "ELLIOTT & FRY, / 55, BAKER STREET / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON / W / No….." Elliott & Fry 1874d.4. uses the same card blank. A copy seen has "Got for 1s High St., Kensington on May 27th / 79. / J. W. Wood" [1879] written on verso. As so often, this card was advertised as signed by Darwin (Stockholms Auktionswerk 2016).
a.4. CDV as above but with Darwin's hair lightly retouched.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.5. (Upplands Museum, Sweden)
a.5. CDV as above but without arched top or retouching and slightly less cropped and slight typographical differences on verso.
Two examples of Elliott & Fry 1874a.6. Note the retouching.
a.6. CDV as above but Darwin's beard and hair heavily retouched with grey streaks.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.7.
a.7. CDV cropped (via fading away) to little more than head and chest. On recto mount lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON W". On verso: symbol of Order of the Garter, "ELLIOTT and FRY / Photographers / 55&56, Baker Street, London / W." and "Marion, Imp Paris", as Elliott & Fry 1881a.4 and Elliott & Fry 1881c.3 with blind stamp "MARION & CO. LONDON".
Elliott & Fry 1874a.8.
a.8. CDV high-quality Woodburytype from original negative, less cropped than other variants. No printing on recto. On verso, ornate printed design and text in red or maroon "PORTRAIT FROM LIFE / COPYRIGHT. / CHARLES D. [sic] DARWIN. / JOHN G. MURDOCH, / Publisher, / LONDON, EDINBURGH & GLASGOW." A copy for sale on eBay is with a letter by Darwin which reads "May 4th [1875- added in another hand] / Dear Sir / I have much pleasure in sending you one of the best photographs, in my opinion, which has been made of me." Since published in CCD30:350. If this is the photograph originally enclosed with the letter, this would date the Murdoch printings to as early as 1875.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.9. detail showing the retouching.
a.9. CDV cropped to upper-chest. On recto "THE LATE" then identical text as Elliott & Fry 1869a.2 and Elliott & Fry 1871b including "deid" and identical text on verso. Darwin's hair and beard crudely touched up with grey spots and streaks. A copy in CUL-DAR257.12 has "HE Litchfield abt 1870 1869" written on verso.
a.10. CDV cropped/faded to head only, even end of beard gone with no printing on square cut card. Getty Museum, et al.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.11.
a.11. CDV as above but card has rounded edges.
Elliott & Fry 1874a.12.
a.12. CDV cropped/faded to head only in an oval. Image has clipped corners. On recto mount "Newnham & Field. Bournemouth." On verso N&F monogram and "NEWNHAM & FIELD. / ARTISTE PHOTOGRAPHERS. / 2, WELLINGTON TERRACE, / BOURNEMOUTH. / THIS OR ANY OTHER PORTRAIT ENLARGED / UP TO LIFE SIZE AND PAINTED IN OIL OR / WATER COLORS."
Elliott & Fry 1874a.13.
a.13. CDV cropped/faded to head only. Label on bottom of image from negative: "*ДарвинЪ. Darvin.*" Card has rounded corners. Verso blank. Russia.
a.14. CDV cropped/faded to head only. No printing on card but it appears to have been cut down with scissors. Copy in CUL-DAR185.114a.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.7.
a.15. CDV cropped-faded as above but with Darwin in an oval and thin red border line around card. Verso not seen. Mullocks Specialist Auctioneers 14 Feb. 2013, lot 139.
b. As above but facing more to the front, both eyes clearly visible, pince-nez cord not visible. No lithographed signature on any variant seen. Engraved in Neue Alpenpost in 1875.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.1.
(William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
b.1. CDV with unique thin red border line and yellowish card. Only copy seen, in the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. It is signed on the recto mount "Ch. Darwin March 7th 1874." No printed text on recto mount. Reproduced in Morris & Wilson, Down House, 1998, p. 48, American Jrnl of Psychiatry 162:2, Feb. 2005, et al.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.2. (Angus Carroll)
b.2. CDV on recto "ELLIOTT & FRY (COPYRIGHT) 55, BAKER STREET / PORTMAN SQUARE / W." On verso "Elliott & Fry / TALBOTYPE GALLERY / 55, Baker Street / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON. / Registered No........."
Elliott & Fry 1874b.3.
b.3. CDV on recto "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER St. / PORTMAN SQE.". On verso "ELLIOTT & FRY, / 55, Baker Street, / PORTMAN SQUARE, W." A copy sold at Christie's in 1998 is apparently signed on the recto mount "Ch. Darwin" and inscribed by Darwin on verso "Mr. Meehan / from / Ch. Darwin". (Thomas Meehan (1826-1901), possibly sent on 9 Oct. 1874.) A very common variant. CDVs of other persons printed on the identical card blank are signed on verso Sept. 1871, Jan. 1872 and Sept. 1873.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.3.1.
b.3.1. CDV as above but different printing on verso: "ELLIOTT & FRY, / 55, Baker Street / PORTMAN SQUARE, W. / No. .....". A typographically identical card for another person is dated 1872 on verso.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.4.
b.4. CDV with thin red line around photograph. On recto mount in black "Darwin. / 1391." on verso "P" monogram in red. Russian? A near identical card for Carl Gutzkow, number "1830", is signed and dated by him 1878.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.5.
b.5. CDV cropped almost to head only. Small label on photograph "Charles Darwin".
Elliott & Fry 1874b.6. Detail of printing on mount.
b.6. CDV with thin red border line with "Darwin. / Collection Dèsmarets. Déposé." on recto mount in red. Verso blank.
Elliott & Fry 1874b.7. (University of Padova)
b.7. Cabinet card with Darwin in an oval as central figure in composite with four other naturalists, Fritz Müller, Fritz Hildebrand, Federico Delpino and Axell Severin. Gold line around card. Hand written on recto mount: "Eliot. in Knuth. Blütenb.; Dono A. Forti 1900".
c. As above but facing even more forward, full face. Shirt collar, pince-nez cord and handkerchief not visible. No lithographed signature seen on any variant. Engraved by V.A. Hech c.1900?
Elliott & Fry 1874c.1.
c.1. CDV on recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55, BAKER ST. / PORTMAN SQUARE". On verso "ELLIOTT & FRY, / 55, BAKER STREET, / PORTMAN SQUARE." A typographically identical card of Thomas Carlyle is dated 1868 (RR Auction).
Elliott & Fry 1874c.2.
Elliott & Fry 1874c.2. A copy signed by Darwin. (Courtesy of Simon Keynes)
c.2. CDV on recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER ST. / PORTMAN SQE.". On verso "ELLIOTT & FRY / 55, Baker Street / PORTMAN SQUARE W." A typographically identical card for Ralph Waldo Emerson is signed and dated 3 July 1876 (RR Auction).
c.2.1. CDV on recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER ST. / PORTMAN SQE.".
Elliott & Fry 1874c.3. Detail.
c.3. CDV cropped near uppermost jacket button with no printed text on recto mount. Victoria & Albert Museum E.18-1998, etc.
c.4. CDV cropped above uppermost jacket button with no printed text on recto mount.
Elliott & Fry 1874c.5. Detail of printing on mount.
c.5. CDV with thin red border line. On recto mount "PHOTOGRAPHIE WESENBERG & Co." On verso, monogram and Cyrillic text in maroon, of the Wesenberg studio: "Fontanka 55, St. Petersb."
Jacob Johan Wilhelm Wesenberg (1839-80) opened a photographic business at Fontanka Avenue 55, Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1865. Heinrich Tolvanen took over in December 1882. From 1885-99 the studio was at Voznesensky Avenue 26. From 1900-12 it was located at Voznesensky Avenue 32. Heinrich Wesenberg took over in September 1899. Lydia Rudneva took over in July 1912. The studio was then called "Wesenberg G."
c.6. CDV with thin red border line around photograph. On recto mount "PHOTOGRAPHIE [monogram] WESENBERG & Co." Verso as above. Before 1885.
Elliott & Fry 1874c.7.
c.7. CDV thin red outline around photograph. On recto mount in red "WESENBERG" and address in Cyrillic. Verso, monogram and address of the Wesenberg studio: "Fontanka 55, St. Petersb." in Cyrillic in blue. Before 1885.
Elliott & Fry 1874c.8. Detail showing eyes.
c.8. A print in the Arbejdermuseet, Copenhagen, has had the eyes touched up so poorly that it resembles a figure from Easter Island.
Elliott & Fry 1874c.9.
c.9. CDV as c.7. but by a different Russian publisher. Red Cyrillic text on recto and publisher's imprint on verso in red.
d. As above but facing more to the left, arms crossed. Engraved in The Examiner in 1879. The extent that Darwin's hands and shoulders are cropped varies considerably, even amongst the same printed variant. The image reproduced below is the least cropped seen.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.1.
d.1. CDV with "ELLIOTT & FRY, 55, BAKER ST. W." on recto mount. On verso "ELLIOTT & FRY / 55, BAKER STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, / LONDON. W. / No. / Marion, Imp Paris". A CDV of another person on identical printed card stock is dated on verso Aug. 1874.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.2.
d.2. CDV "ELLIOTT & FRY (COPYRIGHT) 55, BAKER STREET / PORTMAN SQUARE / W." on recto of mount uniform with Elliott & Fry 1874b.2.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.3. and detail of face.
d.3. CDV "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER St. / PORTMAN SQE" on recto mount, uniform with Elliott & Fry 1871a.1. On verso "ELLIOTT & FRY / 55, Baker Street / PORTMAN SQUARE. W." Two typographically identical cards for other persons are signed on verso Sept. 1871.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.4.
d.4. CDV on recto mount lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and printed "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55, BAKER ST." On verso symbol of Order of the Garter and "ELLIOTT & FRY, / 55, BAKER STREET / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON / W / No….." and debossed stamp "MARION & CO. LONDON." Elliott & Fry 1874a.3. uses the same card blank. A copy seen has an orange paper label pasted on the verso from photographer M.M. Couvée, The Hague. A copy offered by Sotheby's in 1997 as "Signed C. Darwin" not realising the signature is lithographed giving size "3 1/2 x 2 3/8-inch image on 4 1/8 x 2 1/2-inch card".
Elliott & Fry 1874d.4.1.
d.4.1. As d.4. above except spacing of recto printing is different and card stock has square cut corners. Det Kgl. Bibliotek, Denmark. Photocopy in CUL-DAR225.192.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.4.2.
d.4.2. Printed text as d.4. with image cropped/faded to head only.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.5. Detail showing top of the lithographed signature underneath photograph pasted on the pre-printed card/mount. (NPG)
d.5. CDV as above but image has arched top.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.6.
d.6. CDV on recto "CHARLES DARWIN. D.C.L., F.R.S. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright. 55, BAKER ST. LONDON. W." Verso with 'Elliot & Fry' shield and logo. Darwin did not receive the D.C.L. from Oxford in 1870. Darwin was awarded an LL.D. from Cambridge in 1877. Hair on back of head lightly retouched. Copy in EH88205733.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.7.
d.7. CDV with uncropped image. No printing on recto mount. A copy seen has handwritten text on verso recording Darwin's birth and death dates, so possibly post Apr. 1882.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.8.
d.8. Cabinet card cropped/faded so that arms not visible with "Darwin." at bottom of image. On recto mount "Emerson NEW YORK." Verso blank.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.8.1. (Library of Congress)
d.8.1. CDV as above without "Emerson NEW YORK." on recto mount.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.9.
d.9. CDV cropped to head in oval frame. No printing on recto. Hair, beard and eyes so heavily retouched as to be almost unrecognizable. On verso "D. M. BENNETT…Eigth St., N. Y." and lengthy adverts. A secular publisher.
Elliott & Fry 1874d.10.
d.10. CDV cropped to head and chest in oval frame, no retouching, printed on recto of mount: "CHAS. DARWIN. / Published by GEO. W. THORNE, 60 NASSAU St, N.Y." Verso blank.
d.11. Postcard. Shoulders largely absent but chest visible. On recto "Darwin." c.1909.
L. Darwin 1878a.4.
1878a Three-quarter right profile, seated in a Down House chair (according to some sources), by Leonard Darwin. A copy of L. Darwin 1878.a.2 (McGill-CA-OSLER0-P110[.13]) has written on verso: "For J.C. Simpson June 1909 / Photograph of Ch. Darwin taken about 1875 at Basset Southampton by Leonard Darwin. C. Darwin considered it a very good photograph of himself. [signed] WE Darwin". Darwin stayed there from Apr. 27-May 13 1878. A Darwin-Galton family tree displayed at Third International Congress of Eugenics in 1932 at the American Museum of Natural History, attended by Leonard Darwin, included a copy of the photograph with the caption "A hitherto unpublished picture / Taken by Leonard Darwin at his brother's / house in Southampton probably in 1876." A copy of L. Darwin 1878a.4. sold at Sotheby's in 2022 has written on verso in pencil: "Charles Darwin / done on the verandah at Down by his son Leonard." 1881 Engraved in Gardeners' Chron. 1881 Letter to Henri de Saussure, Darwin regarded this as the best photograph of himself. CCD29. See also a letter from Emma Darwin to an unknown London photographer, CCD30:337, dated by the editors as Oct. 1874 or later, which apparently refers to this photograph and prints being made from the negative.
L. Darwin 1878a.1.
a.1. Woodburytype in The University Mag., vol. 2, (Aug. 1878), facing p. 154, with lithographed signature below "Charles Darwin". and "PHOTOGRAPHED BY LEONARD DARWIN, R. E."
L. Darwin 1878a.2. (Christie's 2022)
a.2. Woodburytype, 13x9.5cm on card mount 165x108mm, no printed text. A copy at Down House (EH88207475) is annotated "Charles Darwin taken in 1878 by me Leonard Darwin 1933". A copy in CUL-DAR319.12.27 annotated in blue ink written with a nib on recto mount: "by his son Leonard Darwin 1878?". Another copy (CUL-DAR225.119) is annotated on the verso in ballpoint pen: "Photograph taken in 1878 by Leonard Darwin" and another copy (CUL-DAR225.120) is annotated on the verso "C Darwin 1880?" again in ballpoint pen. A copy in the J.C. Simpson Collection, Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University has written on verso: "For J.C. Simpson June 1909 / Photograph of Ch. Darwin taken about 1875 at Basset Southampton by Leonard Darwin. C. Darwin considered it a very good photograph of himself. [signed] WE Darwin". Another copy offered but not sold at Christie's 2022, sent by H.E. Litchfield on 31 July 1892 to unknown correspondent and annotated by her on verso "HE Litchfield" in pencil and "Charles Darwin" in ink. Other copies in Dittrick Medical History Center, American Museum of Natural History and Otago University Library.
L. Darwin 1878a.2.1. (Courtesy of Simon Keynes)
a.2.1. Woodburytype under glass. A copy in the Galton Papers, UCL, secured around the edges with leatherette, has a signed slip "Charles Darwin / Feb. 22d 1880.—" under the glass. Simon Keynes's copy is secured around the edges with paper.
L. Darwin 1878a.2.2. (International Autograph Auctions)
L. Darwin 1878a.2.2. (Dominic Winter Auctions)
a.2.2. Woodburytype, c.110x90mm, on a dark card mount c.145x100mm. A copy sold at International Autograph Auctions (H3882-L70712113) is signed on recto mount in blue ink "Charles Darwin / March 24th 1881." The same sold at Sotheby's in 2000 as a "sepia print". Another copy with the same measurements sold by Dominic Winter Auctions in Oct. 2013, lot 789, is also signed by Darwin on recto mount.
L. Darwin 1878a.2.3. (Dorotheum)
a.2.3. Woodburytype with equally wide border above and below image like a.2. but without the rounded card corners. A copy was sent by Leonard Darwin to the Austrian hygienist Heinrich Reichel on 11 May 1932. Signed on recto mount: "Charles Darwin / taken by / - Leonard Darwin / May . 1932". Dorotheum 24 June 2022, lot 109. A copy in the library of the Linnean Society of London has written on recto mount "Charles Darwin / By his son Leonard 1878?" and on verso "(3) C / Return to Lady Barlow / Boswells / Wendover".
a.3. Woodburytype, 10.4x7.8cm, with debossed stamp on bottom right of image "Autotype Company". Down House EH88207476. A copy seen is signed on the recto mount "Charles Darwin". Patrick Pollak Antiquarian and Rare Books, 2009.
L. Darwin 1878a.4.
L. Darwin 1878a.4. Detail.
a.4. Woodburytype as frontispiece to Woodall 1884 (90x115mm) with lithographed signature "Yours very faithfully / Ch. Darwin" below. "The portrait of Mr. Darwin which is given with this paper is reproduced by the Woodbury process from a photograph taken by Captain Darwin". Reproduced above.
L. Darwin 1878a.5.
a.5. Carbon print with "Elliott & Fry." in white on the lower left corner of the image. Wellcome Collection, attributed to the Galton Institute and Royal Geographical Society.
a.6. Postcard with "Charles Darwin" in Cyrillic below image. c.1900?
L. Darwin 1878a.7.
a.7. Postcard with monogram "GF1659 and "Charles Darwin" in Cyrillic on image bottom left, and bottom right "BOP". All in white. c.1900?
L. Darwin 1878a.8.
a.8. Heliogravure, 22x17.4cm (image), with "Darwin" and "2970." on recto mount, on verso "Neg. vorh. Format". Die Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin, 1910.
a.9. CDV-size print, heavily re-touched. On recto mount: "Carlo Darwin".
a.10. c.1930s-1940s a colour-tinted lantern slide was produced by Beavis Photographic Studio, Sydney. Museums Victoria.
L. Darwin 1878b.
1878b Full-length left profile, seated in a basket chair on the verandah at Down House by Leonard Darwin. Engraved in Century Mag. in 1883. In LL2 (1887), Francis Darwin dated this as "1874?". A copy in CUL-DAR140.1 has written on the verso "?1874" and a framed copy at Down House is also dated on a label as 1874. These are not three independent datings, but are all Francis Darwin's estimate. Leonard Darwin's 1909 estimate was "between 1872 and 1878". Harmer & Ridewood eds., Memorials of Charles Darwin, 1910, p. 20. (In Darwin Online at A313) Although Leonard presumably must have visited at some point, there are no records in Emma Darwin's diary (text) or the correspondence of Leonard visiting Down House during 1874 and in June he departed for New Zealand for the remainder of the year. Whereas there are seven visits recorded in Emma Darwin's diary in 1878 when he certainly did photograph Darwin. For this and other reasons, 1878 seems more likely than 1874.
The Down House verandah tiles in 2019. The area where Darwin was photographed (in front of the now moved drainpipe) appears to have cleaned or replacement tiles.
A CDV version of the photograph was later sent by W.E. Darwin to Dr. Charles Heaton dated only 9 March: "The one by Robinson was taken at home by my brother & we consider it the most natural & life like of any of the photographs of him." Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University. Francis Darwin recalled: "The verandah which was built onto the drawing room was his idea, and gave him much pleasure as he often sat there in his Japanese wicker chair shown in Leos photograph. It was a pretty verandah with tesselated floor, and wooden posts covered with little Virginian creeper, and with white clematis trained along the rafters, and Atlumia grown from A. Grays seed springing up in a big flower box in the corner & often decorated with big plants such as Vellota in pots." CUL-DAR140.3.1--159. The same chair is featured in a CDV photograph of someone else, now in the Darwin family album at the Huntington Library. Variants seen:
b.1. Albumen photograph in CUL-DAR140.1, 20x15cm, is annotated on verso "Frontispiece L&L, vol II ?1874". Another copy (CUL-DAR225.1) is annotated on verso "Photograph of C. Darwin taken in the Verandah of Down House c. 1880". A copy at Down House (EH88207473) is annotated "C D in the verandah at Down". Another copy in gold card mount, EH88207474.
b.2. Albumen photograph, 31x26cm, framed and on display at Down House, EH88202824.
b.3. A print, frame size 47x38.5cm, cropped just above the knees, with background detail including drainpipe removed, on display at Down House (EH88204448), bears a label on the frame: "COPY OF PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY HIS SON LEONARD DARWIN IN 1874 AND PRESENTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY". A label "9" is on the bottom left of the frame.
b.4. Three-quarter length cropped photograph in frame 65x50cm. Down House EH88204731.
Oval enamel miniatures of L. Darwin 1878b.
b.5. Oval enamel miniature cropped just above knees, hands still visible, c.8.5x6cm. These were produced for the family and found in a box with the words "Father's portrait". Down House. Either EH88202896 or EH88202882.
b.5.1. Oval enamel miniature cropped just above hands. Chairback still visible.
b.5.1.x Tunbridge Wells Museum 1930.01.
b.5.1.x Oval enamel miniature as above, but slightly less cropped, including more of the arms on left. Tunbridge Wells Museum 1930.01.
b.6. Oval enamel miniature cropped to chest and head only, chair not visible.
b.7. Smallest oval, c.4x3cm, enamel miniature cropped a little more than the above. One in the possession of Simon Keynes is mounted on a black wooden square with a round brass ring frame around image. Note on verso: "This photograph of Charles Darwin was taken by his son Leonard, who had three or four copies permanently burnt in on special enamel, of which this is one. It belonged to Darwin's daughter, Henrietta Litchfield, & always hung over her drawing room mantel piece. On her death (Dec 17. 1927), her niece, Margaret Keynes took it for her son, Stephen, to have in memory of his great aunt Etty."
b.8. A more tightly cropped version of oval enamel b6. is at the Royal Geographical Society. Or it may be simply a slightly different application of the image during the production of the same variant.
b.9. CDV cropped to wrists just and below seat of chair. No markings. Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library.
b.10. CDV front of right foot only cropped. On recto mount: "HP ROBINSON TUNBRIDGE WELLS". Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901) of Great Hall Studio, Tunbridge Wells (from 1857). Robinson was a friend of Rejlander's. Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University. Accompanied by a letter from W.E. Darwin to Dr. Charles Heaton dated only 9 March: "The one by Robinson was taken at home by my brother & we consider it the most natural & life like of any of the photographs of him."
L. Darwin 1878b.11. (Courtesy of Frank Sulloway )
b.11. Photograph, 20x14.61cm, made for the family. A copy in the possession of Simon Keynes has been cut down with scissors. A copy in the collection of Frank Sulloway was given to him by Nora Barlow along with a copy of L. Darwin 1878a.2 (image measuring 11.75x9.53cm).
L. Darwin 1878b.12.
b.12. Albumen print, 193 x 134mm, mounted on large heavy card 380 x 310mm, blind stamped "Photo School Chatham SME". Leonard Darwin was an instructor in chemistry and photography, School of Military Engineering, Chatham, 1877-82. Sotheby's Dec. 2022, lot 1035. Another listing: Sotheby's 2005 lot 322 "verso inscribed in pencil 'Charles Darwin done in verandah at Down by his son Leonard'".
Lock & Whitfield 1878a.6. Lock & Whitfield 1878b.
1878 Two photographs by Lock & Whitfield. Samuel Robert Lock (1822-81) and George Corpe Whitfield (1833-1904) established a partnership and studio in 1856 at Regent Street, London, and another studio at Kings Road, Brighton in 1864. Usually dated 1877 but with no evidence provided. It was first published in Dec. 1878.
a. Half-length three-quarter left profile.
Cover of Men of mark.
Lock & Whitfield 1878a.1.
a.1. Woodburytype (11.4x9cm) in oval border in Lock & Whitfield, Men of mark: a gallery of contemporary portraits of men distinguished in the senate, the church, in science, literature and art, the army, navy, law, medicine, etc. photographed from life by Lock and Whitfield with brief biographical notices by Thompson Cooper. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., vol. 3, 1878, opposite p. 36. (A2052) Below image: "CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN." / "Lock and Whitfield. Woodbury Process." Preface: "The photographs, taken from life, expressly for this publication, are produced in an absolutely permanent form by means of the Woodbury process". The work was issued in monthly parts with three portraits for 1s 6d. Darwin appeared in part 36 in Dec. 1878. Publishers' Circular, (18 Dec.), p. 1202. The 3d vol. in the series was advertised in Publishers' Circular from 16 Nov. 1878, p. 917. It sold for £1 5s. Engraved as frontispiece to Descent [in French] F1061 in 1881. Whitfield registered for copyright on 24 Apr. 1882.
a.2. CDV cropped to little more than head and beard. In an oval.
a.3. CDV with "Darwin." printed at bottom of image. No printed text on recto mount.
a.4. CDV as above but with red border line around image and rounded corners to card.
Lock & Whitfield 1878a.5.
(Det Kgl. Bibliotek, Denmark)
a.5. CDV cropped/faded to head only. On recto of mount "H. RIISE / Amagertorv 6 KØBENHAVN." Denmark.
Lock & Whitfield 1878a.6.
a.6. After Apr. 1882 a Woodburytype cabinet card by photographic and fine art publisher and print dealer William Luks (1840-1911) with a thin red border. On recto mount [in black:] "The late / CHARLES DARWIN / [in red:] WILLIAM LUKS COPYRIGHT. LONDON. / [in black:] Gesetzlich Deponirt". Verso blank. As the least cropped variant, this is the photograph reproduced here. NPG (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0), et al. Very common.
a.6.1. As above but no "Gesetzlich Deponirt" printed on card mount. Only one copy seen.
a.7. 1882 heavily edited version with body and clothing added by an artist. Reproduced in Popular Science Monthly, vol. 74, (1909), p. 334. The editor, thinking it a unique photograph, stated that the source was unknown to him. Frontispiece to Descent [in Polish], vol. 2, 1960, F1103.2. This image has circulated online since at least 2009 as if it were a unique photograph.
a.7.1. with "DARWIN" and publisher's text on recto mount (illeg. in only copy seen).
Lock & Whitfield 1878a.7.2.; a.7.3; a.7.4. and a.7.4.6
a.7.2. Cabinet card with "DARWIN" in white on lower left of image.
a.7.3. Cabinet card with "DARWIN." in black on recto mount.
a.7.4. Cabinet card, on mount in red: "Bruckmann's portrait-Collection, Nr. 41. / Déposé 1882 Registered. / DARWIN / Fried. Bruckmann's Verlag in München & Leiden."
a.7.5. Cabinet card, on mount in red: "Bruckmann's Collection" / "Geo. Kirchner & Co., New York" / "DARWIN".
a.7.6. Cabinet card with no printing on recto. Copy sold at Sotheby's Dec. 2022, lot 1044.
b. Almost identical to above, but with Darwin facing slightly more to the front.
Lock & Whitfield 1878b.1. Right a copy(?) sold on eBay in a CDV album.
b.1. CDV cropped to head only with "DARWIN." on recto of mount.
Lock & Whitfield 1878b.2.
b.2. CDV slightly more cropped than b.1. Thin red border line around card.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a. Elliott & Fry c.1880b.
c.1880 Two photographs by Elliott & Fry. Some modern works claim 1879, 1880 or 1881 or that these are the last photographs of Darwin. No contemporary datings have been found. Both were registered for copyright on 30 Mar. 1882 and again on 1 Jun. 1896 described as "large head". Cabinet cards with the printed address 7 Gloucester Terrace date from 1887-93. c.1880a was reproduced in Seward ed., Darwin and modern science, 1909 (A162), a work that was assisted by Francis Darwin, and it was there dated "circ. 1880." This is the earliest known dating of the photograph and therefore used here. Francis clearly did not regard these as the last photographs of his father. No record of payments for these has been found.
a. Half-length, full-face, looking at camera. Very widely reproduced after Darwin's death. Engraved as frontispiece to Origin [in Japanese], 1896, F718. A copy in EH88205802.
This is the photograph (reversed) that was altered for the 2008-9 NHM 'Darwin: big idea, big exhibition' poster with a hand 'photoshopped' onto it making the gesture 'shh'. Tragically, this faked photograph has become one of the most popular and widely reproduced images of Darwin. It has appeared on the covers of books, the Times Literary Supplement, postage stamps, postcards, in paintings, drawings, throughout the internet and has even been tattooed onto many avid Darwin admirers. This altered image perpetuates the myth that Darwin kept his theory a secret, which he did not. (See Mind the gap) This erroneous view arose only in the mid-20th century. The fact that a Victorian photograph modified to reflect a 20th/21st-century version of history should be preferred by modern audiences to a more austere Victorian original should not be surprising. (The image is at the bottom of this page.)
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.1.
a.1. Cabinet card with "ELLIOTT & FRY 55, BAKER STREET. W." on recto mount in gold colour. Early prints reveal a light blemish on the negative on the upper left arm.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.1.1.
a.1.1. Cabinet card with "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. / LONDON W". on recto mount. On verso "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON, W. / THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS COPYRIGHT AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED / WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF MESSRS ELLIOTT & FRY." Another Elliott & Fry card of this type is dated 1902.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.2.
a.2. Cabinet card with "CHARLES DARWIN." in red and "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. / LONDON. W." in black on recto of mount. On verso "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON W / THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS COPYRIGHT AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED / WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF MESSRS ELLIOTT & FRY." Another Elliott & Fry card of almost identical type is dated 1902 and another of Badel Powell is signed May 1910.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.2.1. (Courtesy of J. David Archibald)
a.2.1. Cabinet card. Faded outline. Recto of mount "DARWIN." in dark red and in black: "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S.W." on recto. On verso royal coat of arms and "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S. W." in pale green. Printed text identical to Elliott & Fry c.1880b.3. except the latter is in green not black. Another copy of this card has the white spot on Darwin's left arm replaced with a dark spot, hence possibly another production variant. A cabinet card of another person on identical printed card stock, except for Darwin's name, is dated 1893, and another of Clara Wieck Schumann is signed 1877 (RR Auction).
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.3.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.3. Detail of face.
a.3. Cabinet card with "CHARLES DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55 & 56, BAKER St.. LONDON W". on recto mount. The light blemish on left arm crudely covered with a dark spot. On verso symbol of Order of the Garter and "ELLIOTT & FRY / Photographers / 55 & 56, Baker Street, London / W". Uppsala University Library, etc.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.3.1.
a.3.1. Cabinet card with faded outline, lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER St.. LONDON. W". Some copies with debossed stamp "WILLIAM LUKS / LONDON" on recto mount. Verso as above.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.4.
a.4. Cabinet card with "The Late / CHARLES DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright, 55 & 56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W." on recto mount. On verso a royal coat of arms and "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET. / LONDON / W." Two cards for other persons with almost identical verso design (having only "No....." on bottom left) are signed and dated 1881 and "March 1881".
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.4.1.
a.4.1. Cabinet card. Faded outline. On recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12 1809 DIED APRIL 19 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. London. W". Card text uniform with b.7.
a.4.2. As above but photograph does not have faded outline and indeed may be the least cropped variant seen.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.5.
a.5. Cabinet card. On recto mount: "THE LATE / CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12. 1809 DIED April 19. 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". NPG, etc.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.6.
a.6. Cabinet card with "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55, BAKER STREET. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S.W." on recto of mount. On verso coat of arms of the sovereign, "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON, W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S W".
a.6.1. All as above but white spot on left arm replaced with a dark spot. A copy seen has a tiny stamp on verso: "W. Hermann & Co. Berlin".
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.6.1.2. (BNF)
a.6.1.2. As above with "The Late / CHARLES DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S.W." on recto of mount.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.6.2.
a.6.2. Cabinet card with more of image faded away than any other except Elliott & Fry c.1880a.2.1. which is very similar. Recto mount text cut off in only copy seen, here supplied from an identical card. On verso a unique design and text for any Darwin card seen (but see Elliott & Fry 1881a.1.): no coat of arms or monogram and "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55 BAKER STREET, / LONDON. W. / THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS COPYRIGHT AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED / WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF MESSRS ELLIOTT & FRY." Only one other Elliott & Fry card with this verso design has been seen out of thousands examined.
a.7. Cabinet card. On recto in Cyrillic Saint Petersburg: Vezenberg i Ko, [1900s].
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.8.
a.8. CDV by Wesenberg & Co., Saint Petersburg in Cyrillic on recto and verso in red or maroon. The Wesenberg studio was at this address from 1900-12.
a.9. Postcard. "Darwin" in bold type on recto. Verso blank. [c.1900].
a.10. Postcard. As above but verso "B.K.W.I. 2111." Copies postmarked 1903.
a.11. Postcard, on recto in white "C. Roberto Darwin 2191". Italy, postmarked 1904.
a.12. Postcard with "B. 102." and "Darwin." on recto. Verso blank. A copy seen is postmarked 1909(?) with a Romanian stamp. Det Kgl. Bibliotek, Denmark, et al.
a.13. Postcard, slightly cropped, with "DARWIN." in black across his chest.
a.14. Postcard. Below image: "'ROTOGRAPH' SERIES / B26 / DARWIN".
a.15. Postcard by Balierini & Co., Florence.
a.16. Postcard with "Darwin." and "A / 3.102." on recto. [1909 by postmark].
a.17. Postcard from Poland, 1909, "252 K-M.W." on recto.
a.18. Postcard. Polish/Russian by "A.r.D. #119".
a.19. Postcard. "Charles Darwin" in Cyrillic below image and "GG/C9/2065". c.1900?
a.20. Postcard. "Charles Darwin" in Cyrillic and "413." and monogram, verso blank.
a.21. Postcard. Recto "Darwin" and "397".
a.22. Postcard. Recto "C. DARWIN." Verso "CARTE POSTALE" also French and Russian.
a.23. Postcard c.1906 by Rotograph Series No. B26, New York, etc.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.24.
a.24. Cigarette card. A.G. Cousis & Co., Cairo and Malta. c.1909.
Elliott & Fry c.1880a.24.
a.25. Cigarette card. "290 CHARLES DARWIN. The expounder of the theory of the / Origin of Species, proving the descent of / man from monkeys. Born 1809. Died 1882. / Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes." 1901.
b. Three-quarter right profile. Often engraved in later publications, never dated. Engraved in Harper's Monthly in 1897.
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.1. (NHM)
b.1. Cabinet card. On recto of mount "ELLIOTT & FRY 55, BAKER STREET. W." in gold colour. Uniform with other 'gold' print cardss: Elliott & Fry c.1880a.1., Elliott & Fry c.1880b.1., Elliott & Fry 1881a.1. and Elliott & Fry 1881c.1.
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.2.
b.2. CDV cropped to head. Recto of mount with same lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". A typographically almost identical card for James Russell Lowell is signed 28 May 1885 (RR Auction).
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.2.1. (University of Bergen Library)
b.2.1. Cabinet card. Faded outline. Recto of mount "The Late / CHARLES DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright. 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W."
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.3.
b.3. Cabinet card. Faded outline. Recto of mount "DARWIN." in maroon and in green: "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S.W." on recto. On verso royal coat of arms and "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S. W." in pale green. Printed text identical to Elliott & Fry c.1880a.2.1 except the latter is in black not green. Two cards of other persons on identical printed card stock, except for Darwin's name, are dated "Sept 1892" and 1893.
b.3.2. Cabinet card. Faded outline. Recto of mount "CHARLES DARWIN." in maroon and in green: "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET / LONDON. W." on recto.
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.4.
b.4. Cabinet card. On recto "The Late / CHARLES DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. W. / AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S.W." Card from 1887-93.
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.5.
b.5. Cabinet card. Faded outline. On recto mount "THE LATE / CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12. 1809 DIED APRIL 19. 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". Verso: "ELLIOTT & FRY / Photographers / 55 & 56, Baker Street, London / W." Uniform with Elliott & Fry c.1880a.5. A copy in CUL-DAR257.13. Also re-sold by at least one publisher in New York, see copy in Harvard University Library.
b.6. Postcard c.1906 by Rotograph Series No. A26, New York, etc.
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.7.
b.7. Cabinet card. Uncropped. On recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12 1809 DIED APRIL 19 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". Card text uniform with a.4.2.
Elliott & Fry c.1880b.8.
b.8. Postcard. 1893-1910. Series name on recto "DAS GROSSE JAHRHUNDERT...Esser's Seifenpulver..." "Serie E, No. 191."
Elliott & Fry 1881a-d.
1881 Four photographs by Elliott & Fry. This well-known sitting includes the only known photographs of Darwin standing. The BMNH exhibition of 1909 included all four photographs, dating them 1882. Sometimes dated by modern writers to 1880. LL3 frontispiece (1887), ML2 (1903), ED(1904):2 and Order of the proceedings at the Darwin celebration (F1481, 1909) all date to 1881. No record of payments for these photographs has been found. Registrations for copyright for a. and "3/4 face" and d. were made on 30 Mar. 1882, the same date as the two c.1880 photographs. Francis Darwin recalled: "His usual out-of-doors dress was the short cloak in which Elliot and Fry's photograph represents him leaning against the pillar of the verandah." LL1, F1452.1.
a. Half-length full face standing on verandah at Down House, leaning against one of the iron pillars of the verandah, in velvet collar cloak and soft hat with round crown, looking at camera. A cloth is apparently draped behind so that no background details, such as the house, are visible. CUL-DAR140.1, CUL-DAR225.123, F1473 (1902), etc.
Elliott & Fry 1881a.1.
a.1. Cabinet card. On recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY 55. BAKER STREET.W." in gold colour. Uniform with other 'gold' print cardss: Elliott & Fry c.1880a.1., Elliott & Fry c.1880b.1., Elliott & Fry 1881a.1. and Elliott & Fry 1881c.1.
a.2. Cabinet card. On recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. / LONDON. W." On verso a royal coat of arms and "ELLIOTT & FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON. W". CUL-DAR257.8, etc.
Elliott & Fry 1881a.2.1.
a.2.1. Cabinet card. Albumen print. On recto mount "C. DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W".
Elliott & Fry 1881a.3. Detail of printing on mount and design on verso.
a.3. Cabinet card. Albumen print. On recto mount "The late CHARLES DARWIN." in dark red. And in black: "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. / LONDON. W." Verso: sovereign's coat of arms and "ELLIOTT & FRY / Photographers / 55, BAKER STREET, / LONDON. W" as Elliott & Fry c.1880a.6. and Elliott & Fry c.1880b.3. both of which have also "AND AT 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S. W." CUL-DAR257.8, etc.
Elliott & Fry 1881a.4. (Courtesy of Simon Keynes)
Elliott & Fry 1881a.4. Detail of printing on mount and design on verso.
a.4. Cabinet card. Woodburytype. On recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12 1809 DIED APRIL 19 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". On verso a royal coat of arms and "ELLIOTT and FRY / Photographers / 55 & 56, Baker Street, London / W." and "Marion, Imp Paris". A copy in CUL-DAR225.123 is annotated on verso in pencil in the handwriting of Henrietta Litchfield "(c.1880)". Another (CUL-DAR225.124) is annotated by her on verso "Charles Darwin at Down".
Elliott & Fry 1881a.5. Detail of printing on mount.
a.5. Cabinet card. Albumen print. On recto mount "CHARLES DARWIN, / Born, Feb., 12th, 1809; Died, April 19th, 1882." in reddish brown. In green: "ELLIOTT & FRY, Copyright. 55, BAKER STREET. W. / and at 7, GLOUCESTER TERRACE. S.W." The copy in Manchester University Library is inscribed on the verso, probably by Meta Gaskell, indicating that the photograph was received by her on 4 Jul. 1892 from William Erasmus Darwin.
a.6. Cabinet card size image on an A4 mount in CUL-DAR140.1.32. On recto "COPYRIGHT." And hand-written "Elliott & Fry". On verso "Elliott & Fry, / 55, Baker Street, W. / No………. / COPYRIGHT." Verso annotated in pencil "1881 Frontispiece L&L vol. III".
Elliott & Fry 1881a.7. and detail of verso. (Glasgow University Library)
a.7. Cabinet card. A copy in Glasgow University Library is unlike any other seen, with a bookplate on the verso showing a figure in 18th-century dress holding a parchment reading "Elliott & Fry Baker St W.1" and embossed on the photograph bottom right hand corner, in red, "Elliott & Fry". Presumably a very late printing.
a.8. Large framed print, frame size 70x61cm, cropped just below hands clutching cloak. Label "17" on frame. On display at Down House, EH88204454.
a.9. Undated enlargement, 48.5x40.5cm, annotated "Charles Darwin". Down House EH88205819.
Elliott & Fry 1881a.10.
a.10. Cropped image photograph on card, 43.18x35.56cm. Label on verso: "The / van der Weyde Studio / 12 East Fifteenth Street / New York". Heritage Auctions, 28 May 2015, lot 94234.
Elliott & Fry 1881a.11.
a.11. Cabinet card. On recto mount "Rugg EXTRA FINISH". Rugg, Portraits, 56 South Fifth Street, Minneapolis. The Rugg Art Company of Arthur B. Rugg operated from 1886-92. Verso from a card of another individual.
b. Same as above but looking slightly down and to the left. Engraved by G. Kruell 1887 as frontispiece to LL3 yet the least commonly seen photograph of the set. A fine copy in Uppala University Library has bottom of mount with printed text cut off.
Elliott & Fry 1881b.1.
b.1. Cabinet card. On recto mount "C. DARWIN. / ELLIOTT & FRY COPYRIGHT. 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W".
Elliott & Fry 1881b.2. (Courtesy of Simon Keynes)
b.2. Cabinet card. On recto mount lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W".
b.3. Cabinet card. On recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY. Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W".
c. Same as above but turned even further to the left. Unlike the above, no cloth obscures the background and other verandah columns are visible.
Elliott & Fry 1881c.1.
c.1. Cabinet card. On recto mount "ELLIOTT & FRY 55, BAKER STREET. W." in gold colour.
Elliott & Fry 1881c.2. Detail. (Courtesy of Jon Hodge)
Elliott & Fry 1881c.2. Detail of blind stamp.
c.2. Cabinet card. Photograph covers entire mount. Blind stamp at the bottom of the photograph: "ELLIOTT & FRY. LTD. COPYRIGHT." Verso blank. CUL-DAR257, etc.
Elliott & Fry 1881c.3.
c.3. Cabinet card. On recto mount "THE LATE / CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12. 1809 DIED APRIL 19. 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". Some copies with debossed stamp "WILLIAM LUKS / LONDON" on recto mount. On verso a symbol of the Order of the Garter and "ELLIOTT AND FRY / Photographers / 55 & 56, Baker Street, London / W." as Elliott & Fry 1881a.4. NPG, etc. A copy in CUL-DAR225.125 is annotated "H.E. Litchfield (c. 1880)". An almost identical card of the Duke of Argyll is signed and dated on the verso "April 1882" and that of another person is signed and dated by the sitter 9 Aug. 1888.
d. Seated, half-length, full face eyes to left, in same cloak and hat. Verandah columns also visible in background, though at a different angle.
Elliott & Fry 1881d.1.
d.1. Cabinet card. Cropped to head and chest. On recto mount lithographed signature "C. Darwin" and "ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W".
Elliott & Fry 1881d.2.
d.2. Cabinet card. Uncropped. On recto mount "THE LATE / CHARLES DARWIN. / BORN FEB 12. 1809 DIED APRIL 19. 1882. / ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright 55&56, BAKER ST. LONDON. W". On verso royal coat of arms and "ELLIOTT and FRY / Photographers / 55 & 56, Baker Street, London / W." and "Marion, Imp Paris", as Elliott & Fry 1881a.4 and Elliott & Fry 1881c.3. A copy in CUL-DAR219.12.29 has "Carbon Print / H.E. Litchfield" written on verso in black ink.
Barraud 1881a.6. Barraud 1881b. Barraud 1881c. Barraud 1881d.
1881 Four photographs by Herbert Rose Barraud (1845-96). Darwin made a payment for photographs of £8 16s. to Barraud on 6 Jul. 1881. Classed account books, Down House. Barraud announced issuing photographs from a sitting "about ten months ago" in Apr. 1882. The Globe, (29 Apr.), p. 6. A payment was recorded on 3 Sept. 1881 for "Woodbury Photographs £1 12s" but it is not specified which photographs these were, possibly copies of L. Darwin 1878a. One of the two images published as a cabinet card of Emma Darwin by Barraud, possibly done on the same day, is dated 1881 in ML1:xv (1903) and ED2 1904:[x]. Barraud's cards may be dated by the address printed on them. Until 1883 his studios were located at 96 Gloucester Place, Portman Square. From 1883-91 they were located at 263 Oxford Street and from 1893-96, 73 Piccadilly.
Emma Darwin in 1881 by Barraud.
No Darwin cards have been found printed with an address after Oxford Street. All of the copies printed by Barraud seen are cropped to little more than the head and chest only, as in b-d above. A letter from Francis Darwin dated 16 July 1881 in the Robert M. Stecher Collection, Case Western Reserve University, states "I am glad to be able to send you the most recent photograph of my father; it is I think a very good likeness." The letter is, however, now accompanied by a copy of Wallich 1871a.
a. Head and shoulders, full face, eyes looking into camera, torso directed somewhat left.
Barraud 1881a.1.
a.1. Cabinet card, cropped to head only. On recto mount "BARRAUD LONDON" in dark red or reddish brown.
Barraud 1881a.2.
a.2. Cabinet card. Faded outline. Thin red line around card, less cropped than the above. On recto mount in reddish brown "BARRAUD LONDON". On verso "Mr. BARRAUD / 96, Gloucester Place / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON. W. Marion, Imp, Paris" in same reddish brown. CUL-DAR257.6, etc.
Barraud 1881a.2.1.
a.2.1. Cabinet card. Faded outline as above. On recto mount, lithographed signature "Charles Darwin" and printed in reddish brown "BARRAUD LONDON" with apparently no border line around card. Recto printed text uniform with Barraud 1881b.4.
Barraud 1881a.3.
a.3. Cabinet card. Image like the above. On recto mount in reddish brown "COPYRIGHT / Barraud 263 Oxford St. London. / A few doors West of The Circus." On verso "Mr. BARRAUD / 263, OXFORD St. W / (REGENT CIRCUS) / LONDON" followed by paragraphs of advertisement text, in same colour. Card type is before 1891.
Barraud 1881a.3.1. (Dalziel album, Huntington Library)
a.3.1. Cabinet card, image as above. On recto mount in reddish brown "COPYRIGHT / Barraud 263 Oxford St. London / A few doors West of The Circus."" Note the tyepsetter omitted the quotation mark before Circus in this variant as with a.4. below and Barraud 1881c.5.
Barraud 1881a.4.
a.4. Cabinet card, cropped to head and upper chest only, no faded edges. Text on recto mount identical to a.3.1. On verso "No...…. / Mr. BARRAUD / 263, OXFORD St. W / (REGENT CIRCUS) / LONDON" followed by paragraphs of advertisement text in same ink. An identical card for another person is signed and dated 1883.
Barraud 1881a.4.1.
a.4.1. Cabinet card, cropped/faded to head only. On recto mount in red "COPYRIGHT. / Barraud, 263 Oxford St. London. / A few doors West of "The Circus."" Verso as above, with differences from the type being re-set and a different font.
Barraud 1881a.5.
a.5. Postcard (6.5x13.5cm) by the "ROTARY PHOTOGRAPHIC SERIES" (printed on verso). A much clearer print from Barraud's original negative and less cropped so that it is almost half-length and clearly shows a handkerchief in the inside jacket pocket and the top ring of the pince-nez, with "2308 ROTARY PHOTO. E.G. CHARLES DARWIN" in white on the bottom left of the photograph. The Rotary Photographic Co. (1901-16) used rotary presses to mass-produce postcards of popular portraits. They published other photographs by Barraud such as Huxley who was number 2315. There is a copy postmarked and addressed 20 Feb. 1909 in the Huntington Library, California. Rotary published another postcard with a photograph of the rear of Down House (not otherwise seen) with this photograph of Darwin, cropped and in an oval frame, in the upper right corner.
Barraud 1881a.6. and detail.
Barraud 1881a.6. verso.
a.6. Postcard. Even less cropped than the Rotary above, extending down to show the whole left lens of the pince-nez. Just below the lens is "BARRAUD" in black. On recto mount "90 CHARLES DARWIN. J B & CO". 90 was the number in the publisher's series. The initials refer to J. Beagles & Co., postcard publishers, London (c.1901-09, thereafter J. Beagles and Co. Ltd.), founded by John Beagles (1844-1909). Because it is the least cropped image known, this is the one reproduced here. A postcard portrait of someone else in the NPG by the company and 94 in their series is dated 1902.
Barraud 1881a.7.
a.7. Cabinet card, 8.5x5.2cm (image), 8.5x10.4x6.3cm (mount), cropped/faded to head and chest only, with "PROFESSOR DARWIN." on image itself. Verso blank.
Barraud 1881a.8.
a.8. As above but with no full stop after "DARWIN". Verso blank.
Barraud 1881a.9.
a.9. Cigarette card. "BARRAUD" on image in white. "CHARLES DARWIN. / OGDEN'S Guinea Gold Cigarettes". 1902.
b. Full face, eyes looking slightly to the right, lips slightly parted. Engraved as frontispiece to Origin, New York, F2057, c.1893.
Barraud 1881b.1.
b.1. Cabinet card. On recto mount "BARRAUD LONDON" in dark red/maroon. Cropped to head only. Pince-nez not visible.
b.2. As above but the text in thinner font and full stops after Barraud and London.
Barraud 1881b.3.
b.3. As b.1. but Darwin's beard has been heavily retouched on the negative. Printed on verso: "96 Gloucester Place Portman Square, London".
Barraud 1881b.4. (Australian National Maritime Museum)
b.4. Cabinet card. On recto mount, lithographed signature "Charles Darwin" and printed in reddish brown "BARRAUD LONDON" with border line around card. Extending down almost to waist with half of pince-nez clearly visible, the least cropped variant seen. Verso same as a.2. Reproduced above.
c. Right profile. CUL-DAR140.1.31, NPG, etc. Engraved by Meisenbach in 1885.
Barraud 1881c.1.
c.1. Cabinet card. On recto mount in dark brown "BARRAUD. LONDON." Verso blank.
Barraud 1881c.2.
c.2. Cabinet card. Faded outline. Thin red border around photograph. More blank space around subject than c.1. and c.3. On recto mount "BARRAUD LONDON" in red. On verso "MR. BARRAUD / 96 Gloucester Place / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON. W. Marion, Imp. Paris." in red. A pre-1884 copy seen is inscribed on the verso "Pronounced by his wife to be a very good likeness." WP Watson Antiquarian Books, etc.
Barraud 1881c.2.b
c.2.b. As above but with image in a sharp oval and "COPYRIGHT" on recto mount between "BARRAUD" and "LONDON". Verso as above. The printing on this card is however brown.
Barraud 1881c.3. (Lilly Library, Indiana University)
c.3. Cabinet card. On recto mount "BARRAUD LONDON". On verso "Mr. BARRAUD / 96, GLOUCESTER PLACE / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON. W. Marion, Imp, Paris". Followed by debossed stamp "MARION & CO. LONDON".
Barraud 1881c.4.
c.4. Cabinet card. Thin red line around photograph. On recto mount, lithographed signature "Charles Darwin" with "BARRAUD LONDON" in red. Verso uniform with a.3 "263 Oxford St." etc. Suggesting lithographed signature copies are later than those without. One copy the least cropped seen with the top of chairback just visible. California State University Library and University of Chicago Library, etc.
Barraud 1881c.5.
c.5. Cabinet card. Faded outline with "COPYRIGHT / Barraud 263 Oxford St London / A few doors West of The Circus"", note the quotation mark missing in front of Circus. No border line. Verso as a.3.
c.6. Cabinet card with "PROFESSOR DARWIN." bottom of photograph. Verso blank. A copy in Harvard University Fine Arts Library, etc.
d. As above but head turned slightly to the right to a three-quarter right profile. Only one printed variant seen. The rarest of the set.
Barraud 1881d.1.
Barraud 1881d.1. Detail of printing on mount and debossed stamp.
d.1. Cabinet card. Thin red line around photograph. On recto mount, lithographed signature "Charles Darwin" and "BARRAUD LONDON" in red. Some copies with debossed stamp "WILLIAM LUKS / LONDON" on recto mount. On verso "Mr. BARRAUD / 96 GLOUCESTER PLACE / PORTMAN SQUARE / LONDON. W. Marion, Imp. Paris".
Barraud 1881d.1. Detail.
Above are entries on all the known photographs of Charles Darwin and the published variants recorded so far. But there have also been some mistaken identities. A few illustrations described as photographs in previous lists or works are not photographs at all. See for example Lock & Whitfield 1878a.7.5. above. Online sellers such as EBay have mistakenly listed photographs of unidentified Victorian men with beards as Darwin. Such as these examples:
Photos mistakenly advertised as Darwin.
Cabinet card of an 1881 painting by Hader. Not a photograph.
1885 Cabinet card of painting by Ernst Hader. Photographed by Sophus Williams (Berlin) with lithographed signature "C. Darwin". An extremely poor likeness with pointy nose, reproduced as frontispiece to 1889 Origin [in Dutch] F650, Origin (historical sketch only, in Chinese), 1902, F1846 and many other publications such as D. R. Contosta, Rebel Giants: The revolutionary lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin (2008).
Also not a photograph of Darwin. (Courtesy of Angus Carroll)
1876 Cabinet card of drawing of J.S. Mill, C. Lamb, C. Kingsley, H. Spencer, J. Ruskin, and Darwin. With a statue of a monkey above the standing figure of Darwin with arms behind his back. London: Hughes & Edmonds (22.5x16cm). Some sold with a green mount and "With best wishes for a happy Christmas and a bright new year" in gold lettering.
The photoshopped version of Elliott & Fry c.1880a for the 2009 NHM exhibition poster. See the description of Elliott & Fry c.1880a above for more detail on this fake photo.
Darwin photographs not previously known or recorded include:
See also: Darwin stamps.
Acknowledgements
John van Wyhe is grateful for assistance with the Darwin iconography research from Gene Kritsky, Anthony Smith, Pedro Navarro, Shannon Bohle, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Caso, Haiyan Yang, Elisabeth Leedham-Green, archivist of Darwin College, Cambridge, Paul Cox of the National Portrait Gallery, Clare Howe of the Torquay Museum, Peter C. Kjaergaard of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, Wentao Song of the Department of Physiology, University of Cambridge, Danielle Czerkaszyn of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Daniel Lewis, Huntington Library, Jo Clarke, Plymouth Museums Galleries Archives, Cristina Cilli, Curator, Museo di Anatomia umana "Luigi Rolando" University of Turin, Jordi Fàbregas of the Jardí Botànic Marimurtra, Sara Belingheri Wellcome Library, London, Bruce Marshall Rare Books, Greg Priest, Emma Darwin, Angus Carroll, J. David Archibald, Cordula van Wyhe, Michael Barton, Ros Cameron at the Galapagos Conservancy and Randy Moore, Olivia Fryman, curator of Down House Museum and also Trevor Reynolds and Wendy Monkhouse, Francesa Barison, Biblioteca dell'orto botanico, Padua, Alexander O. Averianov, Victoria Clinton, Alice Pattullo, Hayley Kruger, Frank Sulloway, Andrea Deneau, Rowe Kruger, Jon Hodge, Bruce Pynn, Steven F. Joseph, Saffron Mackay of the Royal College of Surgeons, Neil Gostling, Geoff Belknap, Alexander van Wyhe, Garrett Herman and Andrew Eaves. Igor Fadeev, Dmitriy Olshanskiy and Antonina Nefedova of the State Darwin Museum, Moscow, provided important and extremely generous help and assistance including sending photographs and documents from their collections and archives. Samantha Evans of the Darwin Correspondence Project very generously provided details from the Down House account books regarding photographs and much other help. Christine Chua provided untiring assistance including invaluable help in identifying statues and busts of Darwin in China and beyond. Van Wyhe is also grateful for reproduction permission from Stefan Ståhle of the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, the Syndics of Cambridge University Library, Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, Harvard University Library, Surrey Historical Centre, Dittrick Medical History Center, Case Western Reserve University, the Linnean Society of London, the Natural History Museum (London) and many others.