Sep 27, 2018 - Sale 2486

Sale 2486 - Lot 31

Price Realized: $ 938
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(EPHEMERA.) Album of small portrait engravings of Union and Confederate leaders in carte-de-visite format. 47 engravings, each 4 x 2 1/2 inches, inserted into a period album. Original embossed calf, 6 x 4 1/2 inches, with clasps, defective spine label, otherwise minor wear; minor foxing, closed tear and tape repair to Lincoln's mount; anonymous gift inscription on flyleaf dated Buffalo, NY, 25 December 1863. New York, circa 1862

Additional Details

Many or all of these cards were produced by engraver and publisher Elias Dexter of 562 Broadway in Manhattan. The subjects are a mix of Union and Confederate, with both military and civilian leaders represented. Lincoln is inserted first, as often seen in Civil War-era albums; his portrait is based on a circa 1862 Brady photograph (Ostendorf O-57). By this point, most other northern publishers had stopped portraying Confederate leaders. A more complete list is available upon request.