Handmade Antique Book in Cyanotype Prussian Blue ! Westinghouse Bowling League 1919 has the Blues

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. Here the technique is employed to celebrate (and lampoon) the members of the Westinghouse Bowling League 14th annual meeting. The anonymous artist names each member being drawn, and the names are each found on a page reporting their scores. Not so good! While being one of the very first photographic techniques, the cyanotype has a secret skill. Shield them from light, and the color regenerates! These pages are nice and dark! Cyanotype Handmade Book 1919. Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb

An Unfortunate Collage Death as a Way of Life Part Two Funeral Post-Mortem Photography

An unfortunate memorial photograph, a "constructed" post-mortem if you will, with a portrait of the deceased later collaged onto an original photograph taken of her service.

Wreaths were a sacrifice to the dead and the tradition persists...but they were certainly for the living more than the departed. They were, and are, elaborate tributes the lost soul cannot see. The young woman remembered here wouldn't have seen the taxidermy dove placed among the wreaths either.
It was not uncommon for a photograph of the dead to be positioned among the wreaths for a photo, nor is it unusual to see a photo of the dead actually placed into a cased frame with a left-over arrangement from the funeral. They were allowed to dry, hang, and eventually end up in an antique mall 100 years later. However, this is the first photograph I have seen later added to a memorial photo. Not that I have looked.

Every type of photographic technique has been used to photograph the dead. A more traditional post-mortem tintype is shown here. The Stereoview is from the New York Public Library collection.


Original Floral Wreath Funeral Photograph with additional Portrait Affixed. Circa 1880? Collection Jim Linderman

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Untitled (Longest Hair) Cabinet Card c. 1890 Collection Jim Linderman

Anonymous cabinet card photograph, circa 1890 collection Jim Linderman

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Missing Mother? CDV Photographs Tinted by Hand

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Three original Cartes de Visite photographs from San Francisco around 1880, maybe a bit earlier, maybe a bit later. They were found together, but I do not know if they are actually related. It does look like red and green were popular.

Group of CDV photographs, tinted by hand, circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman

Death as a Way of Life Post-Mortem Tintype Photograph collection Jim Linderman

I know this hurts. A post-mortem tintype photograph circa 1870 depicts a mother holding her recently passed away child. Infant mortality was high and children were often photographed as a memento before burial. An image to share with family members, and nearly every post-mortem photograph is the only image of a loved child. Then, an all too common practice for young mothers. Today, merely a collectible category for early photography collections.

If a photographer can create art in a scene this sorrowful, then he or she is an artist indeed.


Early in the 18th century, death as a youngster was not as rare as it thankfully is now, at least here in the United States. It was also not uncommon for children to be given miniature coffins as playthings or told stories which placed an emphasis on death. Games children played and the rhymes they recited were gruesome indeed. Inevitable but unfortunate. I call it a failure in the design.

Post-Mortem Tintype photograph Collection Jim Linderman

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Spider Woman! Victorian Woman Caught in a Web (Bob Dylan Expecting Rain Basement Tapes Reid Miles)

I really do not know why early photographers thought it chic to use this web protective overlay, but several did.

Short post today...I've been working on a piece about Bob Dylan and the designer Reid Miles who did the Basement Tapes album jacket (as well as most of those beautiful and classic Blue Note Jazz covers)...if interested, see HERE.

I am really pleased that it was picked up by Expecting Rain, the primary source for all things Bob Dylan and more...one of the best music sites on the web, and a daily stop for me without fail.

Less than exceptional victorian photograph with web overlay no date collection Jim Linderman

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