29 Sep If I Had A Little Photograph Of You…
And suppose it was the only photograph I had - of you or anyone else. The first photographs were such marvels that they set the civilised world - France, Germany, the United States - ablaze with wonder and interest. Even in backwater Britain, in the wilds of London, people clamoured to take pictures, to have their portrait taken, to possess images. And for some of them there could only be one image - the cost of the thing was far too dear to have more. The might have a daguerreotype in a union case or an albumin print in a paper slip - or just a tintype button. The face in it might be bleached out, or dim, or reversed. It might be blurred and it would almost certainly be serious, if not sombre. And it was very important to the person in it and the people who knew them. It was proof they existed for some period of time. The saddest portraits were those of people who had ceased to exist - young or old. Funereal and post mortem images being much...