Original period silver print photograph of the great Spanish violinist-composer. From the collection of Frederick Hill Meserve, dating circa 1913 or earlier. It was part of a full volume of photographs produced by Meserve, nearly all of which are direct glass plate negative contact prints. The photograph measures 2.125 x 3.25 inches (5.4 x 8.3 cm) and is set into the original paper frame, with corners set into slits, making it removable. The paper frame, approximately 2.5 x 4 inches (6.5 x 10 cm), features an original annotation in the lower border, written in pencil by Meserve. Fine condition.
Born in 1865, Frederick H. Meserve was the son of William Neal Meserve, a Civil War veteran. He began collecting Civil War era photographs in the 1890s to illustrate his father's war diary. Meserve became a prominent collector and historian of photographs from this era, especially photographs of Abraham Lincoln. He later collaborated with historian Carl Sandburg to publish "The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln" in 1944.
Meserve was not only a collector of Civil War photographs but also acquired entire contents of photography studios, including those of Matthew Brady, Sarony, and Nadar. In 1913, he made four sets of his photographs, mostly printed from the original negatives, at a cost of $413 (equivalent to approximately $9500 today). These sets were made for The Morgan Library, The New York Historical Society, and eventually, Harvard. Various smaller groups of images were issued over time, but only these four large sets of his photographs exist, all mounted and described in Meserve's hand on folio pages.
Provenance: This particular photograph comes from one of those four full sets and was produced prior to March 17, 1913. The original collection included the typed letter providing payment to Meserve from Charles W. Turner & Co., Charles Turner, N.Y. Stock Exchange dated March 17, 1913.
Original period silver print photograph of the great Spanish violinist-composer. From the collection of Frederick Hill Meserve, dating circa 1913 or earlier. It was part of a full volume of photographs produced by Meserve, nearly all of which are direct glass plate negative contact prints. The photograph measures 2.125 x 3.25 inches (5.4 x 8.3 cm) and is set into the original paper frame, with corners set into slits, making it removable. The paper frame, approximately 2.5 x 4 inches (6.5 x 10 cm), features an original annotation in the lower border, written in pencil by Meserve. Fine condition.
Born in 1865, Frederick H. Meserve was the son of William Neal Meserve, a Civil War veteran. He began collecting Civil War era photographs in the 1890s to illustrate his father's war diary. Meserve became a prominent collector and historian of photographs from this era, especially photographs of Abraham Lincoln. He later collaborated with historian Carl Sandburg to publish "The Photographs of Abraham Lincoln" in 1944.
Meserve was not only a collector of Civil War photographs but also acquired entire contents of photography studios, including those of Matthew Brady, Sarony, and Nadar. In 1913, he made four sets of his photographs, mostly printed from the original negatives, at a cost of $413 (equivalent to approximately $9500 today). These sets were made for The Morgan Library, The New York Historical Society, and eventually, Harvard. Various smaller groups of images were issued over time, but only these four large sets of his photographs exist, all mounted and described in Meserve's hand on folio pages.
Provenance: This particular photograph comes from one of those four full sets and was produced prior to March 17, 1913. The original collection included the typed letter providing payment to Meserve from Charles W. Turner & Co., Charles Turner, N.Y. Stock Exchange dated March 17, 1913.