Autograph album with photographs and inscriptions of Albany Law School Class of 1860 and faculty

[Albany, 1860. 62 vintage albumen prints, comprising 60 oval gem portraits (1-1/2 x 1 inches), 1 larger oval portrait (2-1/8 x 1-5/8 inches) and 1 full-length (3-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches). 2 vols. 8vo. Contemporary brown morocco autograph album, stamped in gilt and blind,W.B. Sprague blindstamp on ffep. A few portrait photos damaged, or loose, 2 inscriptions are without photos. 62 vintage albumen prints, comprising 60 oval gem portraits (1-1/2 x 1 inches), 1 larger oval portrait (2-1/8 x 1-5/8 inches) and 1 full-length (3-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches). 2 vols. 8vo. Early Albany Law School Photographic Yearbook. A photographic yearbook from the Albany Law School class of 1860, assembled by student Horatio Colony (1835-1917).
Opened in 1851, Albany Law School is the oldest independent law school in the United States. Many of its students in the 1850s and '60s became prominent lawyers and judges.
As is the custom with the professionally produced college photograph yearbooks produced by George Kendall Warren starting in the late 1850s, each photograph is inscribed beneath by the sitter with his name and hometown. The album opens with professors Ira Harris, Amasa Parker, Amos Dean, Nathaniel Harris, and Levi Chamberlain. Some notable students include Alexander P. Ketchum, who became a Colonel and Chief Appraiser of the Port of New York; Clayton H. Delano (1836-1920), who served eight terms as the Town of Ticonderoga's Supervisor and was elected twice to the New York State Assembly; and William S. Opdyke, general counsel of the Delaware and Hudson Company.
Horatio Colony (1835-1917), whose picture appears last and is unfortunately obscured by damage, assembled this album. The photograph of Levi Chamberlain is inscribed to "Horatio, friend and pupil." He was admitted to the bar in New Hampshire and New York in 1860; in 1869 he, along with his brother George, took over the management of the family business, the Faulkner and Colony Woolen Mill. He held several other civic and local government positions before his death in an automobile accident in 1917. His son Horatio, Jr. (1900-1977), a poet and novelist, established the Colony family home as a museum upon his death.

[With:] Autograph album, containing autographs of acquaintances and some notable figures, including Amos Bronson Alcott ("A. Bronson Alcott") and Octavius Frothingham ("O.B. Frothingham"). In near matching black morocco autograph album, stamped in blind and gilt, extremities rubbed. With later inscription of C.W. Lawbert on front free endpaper.