(FREDERICK DOUGLASS) [John White Hurn photographer] Carte de

Sale 2598 - Lot 224

Price Realized: $ 8,750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

(FREDERICK DOUGLASS.) [John White Hurn, photographer.] Carte-de-visite portrait of Douglass, taken by an old ally. Albumen photograph, 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches, on contemporary plain lined mount, with manuscript caption "Fred Douglas" on lower mount; minimal wear. [Philadelphia, 10 March 1873]

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

This photograph was likely taken of Douglass on 10 March 1873. He was then publishing his final newspaper, the New National Era, and had recently relocated to Washington. That day he was in Philadelphia to lecture at the Academy of Music. Four blocks away was the studio of photographer John White Hurn (1823-1887), who had fully earned the confidence of Douglass over a period of years.

Back in 1859, Hurn had been working as a Philadelphia telegraph operator when news of John Brown's capture came through the wires--along with an order for the local sheriff to arrest Frederick Douglass as a conspirator. Hurn was an ardent abolitionist and Douglass supporter. He stepped away from the telegraph office, got the word out that Douglass was in danger, and promised to delay the delivery of the message for three hours so Douglass could get out of town. This allowed Douglass to safely reach Canada just ahead of the authorities. When Hurn later became a photographer, Douglass sat for him three times in a total of nine extant poses--the most by any photographer. Here we see Douglass posed comfortably in the studio of an old ally.

Only two other examples of this pose have been traced in institutions, at the Library of Congress and the George Eastman House. See "Picturing Frederick Douglass," #71 and pages 19 and 43.