17.00 USD
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...
William Hughes Mearns, 1899
Wonderful French RPPC from (we're guessing) around 1910. We opened our listing text with the last verse from the poem Antigonish, by W.H. Mearns (1875-1965), an educator who, after his famous poem, is probably best known for his focus on childhood imagination, its cultivation, and advancements his work wrought in the field of creative writing.
Of course, we can't know the feeling this image gives you, unless you tell us, but don't you think it's interesting, the reaction we so often seem to have to Victorian and Edwardian portrait photographs?
The unsmiling faces (so prevalent in portraits of that time), have been used in so many film and television versions of "ghost" stories that to think of hauntings, when we see a photograph like this one, has become an almost automatic response. The eerie feeling they convey though, was obviously apparent to the set designers and directors of these films to begin with, so we can't blame this common response on popular media alone. Hey, maybe all old photos are haunted, though usually not malevolently :)
In this particular image, the little girl's expression could be one of repressed "fight or flight" of the "I see dead people" variety (if we're feeling spooky :), or she could be right on the edge of laughter at the antics of a little brother, who's making faces behind the photographer's back! She has a very interesting, "Alice in Wonderland" sort of face that could be plain, or pretty, from one moment to the next.
Either way, great image! Her long hair looks as if it was tightly braided for sleep, then brushed out that morning. She's wearing a hounds tooth patterned dress and button up boots, and a pendant hanging from a chain of a girl's, or woman's face, either as an embossed cameo image (possibly a coin?), a photograph, or possibly a miniature painting. The latter is less likely though, given the quality of the backdrop, a mere drop cloth, really, and nothing like a nice trompe l'oeil one might find in a more "posh" studio setting.
A very nice unposted RPPC. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!