Photograph: Stereoview Card of Charles Dickens, 1867
Photograph: Stereopticon card
Photograph: Stereoscopic image card
1867 (Date manufactured/created)
3 3/8 inches H
X
7 inches W
Stereoview card, also called a stereoptican card, featuring two portrait images of author Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870). The studio of J. Gurney & Son (Jeremiah Gurney) photographed and published the card, as is noted on the face of the card. The portraits, which are very slightly different due to the double-lens camera, show Dickens standing, looking slightly toward his left, with his right arm bent at the elbow and hand resting at his waist, and his left hand resting on a chairback. Dickens was about 55 years old at the time of this portrait. He was photographed by Gurney upon or soon after his arrival in the United States in November of 1867. That marked the launch of his second and final tour of America, during which he was constantly performing his dramatic readings, including A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, and more. The readings were mainly given at venues in Boston and New York City. Dickens returned to England in April 1868. Although Dickens' first tour in the 1840s had not made a good impression on him of Americans nor America, the second trip changed his mind, and also proved he had become a celebrity of great stature in this country; his "fans" could hardly get enough of him. He died only two years after he returned to England. In the photograph he is shown wearing the attire that distinguished him during the American tour, which includes a black wool overcoat with a distinctive quilted silk lining, hand-stitched in a kind of scrolled feather pattern. The coat is in the collection of the Barnum Museum, having been donated to the Barnum Institute in 1895 by Barnum's widow, Nancy Fish Barnum.
Information that was recorded at the time of the gift noted that Dickens gave the coat to publisher George W. Childs of Philadelphia "following November 1867" (meaning, at the end of the Nov '67 - Apr '68 tour) and Childs gave it to Barnum, at what date is not specified. It is likely the coat was given to him with the idea he would display it in his museum. Barnum's second American Museum burned in March 1868, during the time Dickens was here, and perhaps he actually saw the dramatic aftermath of the ice-covered building. Since Barnum had reopened within a few months after the first American Museum's demise, it was perhaps assumed he would reopen a museum once again, which he did not. The coat would have been a novel attraction to draw visitors. This image documents Dickens' ownership of the coat in the museum's collection.
The studio of J. Gurney & Son was located on 5th Ave. at the corner of 16th Street in New York City. The studio was previously located at two or three different addresses on Broadway, and seems to have had at least two locations simultaneously.
Information that was recorded at the time of the gift noted that Dickens gave the coat to publisher George W. Childs of Philadelphia "following November 1867" (meaning, at the end of the Nov '67 - Apr '68 tour) and Childs gave it to Barnum, at what date is not specified. It is likely the coat was given to him with the idea he would display it in his museum. Barnum's second American Museum burned in March 1868, during the time Dickens was here, and perhaps he actually saw the dramatic aftermath of the ice-covered building. Since Barnum had reopened within a few months after the first American Museum's demise, it was perhaps assumed he would reopen a museum once again, which he did not. The coat would have been a novel attraction to draw visitors. This image documents Dickens' ownership of the coat in the museum's collection.
The studio of J. Gurney & Son was located on 5th Ave. at the corner of 16th Street in New York City. The studio was previously located at two or three different addresses on Broadway, and seems to have had at least two locations simultaneously.
Museum Purchase
2023.001.001