Late Victorian photograph album featuring images of women and girls reading by [PHOTOGRAPHY] - nineteenth century

Likely United States, nineteenth century. Victorian photograph album of images of women and girls, most of them posed with books. The images represent a thoughtfully assembled thematic collection, rather than a record of a particular family's life: the photography studios represented range from New York to California, Massachusetts to Wisconsin, England to Germany. Thirty-one of the photographs present women or girls posed with books or letters. Many of the others highlight other cherished possessions: a picture hat, a doll, a fan, a drum, and in the case of a nun, a crucifix and rosary. While most of the photographs feature studio backdrops, a few appear to be candid shots: groups of women gathered around a supper table and on the shore of a lake; a single woman standing in a garden; a group of girls in a schoolyard, posed with a tennis ball and racquet. The one printed reproduction included in the album depicts a well-dressed woman reading aloud to a young boy, surrounded by the comforts of a Victorian parlor. The importance of education was reflected in nineteenth-century studio portraiture through the conspicuous display of books and letters, but the appeal of this album lies, in large part, in the genuine pleasure that many of the subjects appear to take in their reading. Among the most charming is a seated pair of young women, arms affectionately draped over each other's shoulders, with an open book across their laps. A delightful collection, celebrating the importance of reading in the nineteenth century. Photograph album, measuring 8.25 x 11.25 inches: 16 leaves. Original patterned velvet boards, celluloid cover with chromolithographed village scene within floral borders, all edges gilt, brass clasp to foreedge. Fifty-three cabinet cards and one printed reproduction, most measuring about 6 x 4 inches, inserted loosely into gilt-patterned frame mounts, two larger images laid in. Several images hand-captioned. Extremities rubbed with minor loss to celluloid, a few loose leaves, occasional light surface wear to photographs.