Case Histories

The cased photographic portrait was fashionable from the early 1840s until the end of the 1860s. There grew up around it a considerable industry supplying everything from simple leather covered cases to sophisticated creations in moulded thermoplastic. In this book, John Hannavy, a distinguished writer, broadcaster and expert on the history of photography, looks at the photographic portrait from daguerreotype to carte-de-visite, and at the range of cases in which it was marketed. The cased photographic portrait was a sophisticated product, with the delicate hand-colouring of the image echoed in the colours of the protective velvet pad and trim with which the case was finished. This is the first book to make a comprehensive study of the cased portraiture market. While there are individual books on the daguerreotype, the ambrotype, the carte-de-visite and the thermoplastic union case, "Case Histories" examines the history of the portrait and its packaging as component parts of a single integrated industry. The book looks at the structure of the case, and its evolution, as well as exploring the range of materials used in case manufacture, the manufacturing techniques employed, and the emergence of moulding technology. Lavishly illustrated throughout, this book highlights British manufacturers of cases and trims, and identifies the only British manufacturer yet found who made moulded thermoplastic cases. Such was the importance of the cased photographic portrait that moulded picture cases were one of the world's first uses for moulded plastic.