Edgar Allan Poe 1868 CDV Photo

Item Details

Scarce 1868 CDV photo of writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe. Considered the best likeness of the famed author, this photo was taken from the original “Thompson” daguerreotype by William Abbott Pratt out of Richmond, Virginia in September 1849. It was taken approximately 3 weeks before Poe died. Pratt was known to have made only a few daguerreotype copies of his two original Poe daguerreotypes. Text below the image reads, Edgar A. Poe. Author of "The Raven". Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1868, by Charles H. Brainard, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Mass. Published by O. R. Wilkinson, Medford, Mass. When this CDV was produced in 1868, Charles H. Brainard, “a lecturer on literary topics,” owned this reversed copy Pratt daguerreotype. Distributed by A. A. Childs & Co. out of Boston. The original daguerreotype is now in the collection of The Huntington Library in San Marino, California. 

An excellent summary on the history of this image can be found at the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore website... www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1921/deas111a.htm.

Measures approximately 2 1/2 x 4 inches. Excellent condition with nice tonality. Expedited priority shipping, signature tracking and full insurance paid