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 THE DAGUERREOTYPE: AN ARCHIVE OF SOURCE TEXTS, GRAPHICS, AND EPHEMERA


  The research archive of Gary W. Ewer regarding the history of the daguerreotype

Yes folks, I've been a bit of a slacker recently regarding sending DagNews. Several of you have inquired the last two days if somehow they were missing something, and I was frankly glad to know that they are missed. Hopefully I'll be back on track again after today. I'll give two items today. . . - - - - - - - - On this day (September 18) in the year 1848, the following notice appeared in the "Boston Daily Evening Transcript": ANOTHER DAGUERROTYPE CARD CHEAT. On Tuesday last a countryman, named Benjamin B. Brown, bought two pair of boots from a pedlar in this city for $4, and give him a $20 bill, receiving back for change what he supposed to be a $10 bill, and $6 in small bills. When he reached home he found his ten spot to be one of Chase's business cards, in the similitude of a $10 bank bill. The principal lettering is--"Chase's Daguerrian Bank." It has two large X's, and the word "TEN" large on the margin. [Post. * * * * * * * * * * I'll also give today what I think is one of the most profound passages on the subject of portraiture. This text is extracted from "The Philadelphia Photographer" Vol. 10, No. 117 (September 1873) page 280 and was spoken by Albert Sands Southworth while addressing the fifth annual meeting and exhibition of the N.P.A.: Learn to see the fine points in every face, for the plainest faces in the world are human faces, belonging to human beings. There are some lines that are preferable to others, for they are not all bad. I have often made a picture, and have the person say, "It looks handsomer than the original." I would say to them, "You never saw that." I would go ten miles, and live on bread and water for three years to see a face that was ever flattered at all. There is not a single face ever made up to nature. There never was a painting ever made up to the original, made up to give you all that you ought to feel by looking at the original face. There is a soul and feeling in the natural face, or we should feel that it might be there, even if the person is dead; if they were alive, that it might have been there, for the Almighty made it for the very purpose that you must see it, and you can see it. You must feel that the human face is handsomer than the finest artist ever painted. I say it, I believe I am right. Excuse me for so much feeling. -------------------------------------------------------------- 09-18-98

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