Wed 16th: Innsbruck

Ordinarily someone with this much whisker and this little moustache wouldn't make it into the collection.

But what a photograph! It looks as if it was taken yesterday, so sharp and clear is the image and so pristine the card.

And as for that hair-do...

Student. Innsbruck, Austria. Named and dated 1880. Cabinet card.

Tues 15th: Inverness

It seems to me that, on closer inspection, this moustache has been touched up by the photographer...And is that an eagle's foot pinned to his kilt?

Gentleman. Scotland, Inverness. Cabinet card.

Mon 14th: Bangalore

Centre partings were obviously de rigueur in Bangalore in the second half of the nineteenth century. As were striped tops...

I vaguely remember however that, when I bought this for the princely sum of £8.50, I was told that these three men are wearing some kind of informal uniform and are in fact soldiers. If anyone can enlighten me further then I would be delighted to know more!

Sun 13th: Walkley

Appropriately enough for a group of hikers this photograph was taken in Walkley, which is somewhere in Sheffield. It features many fine sets of knickerbockers along with some strange banded socks...

Group of hikers. Walkley, Sheffield, England. Cabinet photograph.

Sat 12th: USA

Another RPPC (Real Photographic Postcard) although this time the photograph has been altered to look as if it is in actual fact a painting....

Two gentlemen. USA. Undated and unposted real photographic postcard.

Fri 11th: Bucharest

Not only do I collect cartes de visite, cabinet cards and albumen prints of men with moustaches, I also collect real photographic postcards or RPPCs, as they are known in the trade.

Here is one of my favourites - from the time of the First Balkan War during which Romania remained neutral.

Two soldiers. Bucharest, Romania. Photograph posted 23rd July 1912. Real photographic postcard.

Thurs 11th: Algiers again

Going through one of my albums I found another Frenchman dressed up in Algerian costume to go with the one I posted on Sunday. He has a faint touch of beard which would ordinarily be enough to  banish him from my collection. His outfit however redeems him.

Gentleman in Algerian costume. Algiers, Algeria. Carte de visite.

Wed 10th: Guildford

Pierrot? Sailor? Actor? You decide.

Gentleman. Guildford, England. Carte de visite.

Tues 8th: Cambridge

I really like this cdv. The photographer has matched his client's clothing with the furniture. And the composition is fantastic. But what is he examining so carefully?

Gentleman. Cambridge, England. Carte de visite.

Mon 7th: England

Although this cdv is definitely English there is something rather louche and continental about the pose. You get the sense that this man would have been rather dangerous let loose amongst the ladies...

Gentleman. England. Carte de visite.

Sun 6th: Algiers

Continuing the costume theme from yesterday, here is a Frenchman dressed up in Algerian costume. France colonised Algiers (or Algers) in 1830 and ruled until Algeria gained independence in 1962. Many Frenchmen, including the wonderful writer Pierre Loti, were captivated by all things Algerian and this kind of portrait (a 'grande photographie Parisienne'), although rare to find now, must have been quite common in the late nineteenth century.

Gentleman in Algerian costume. Algiers, Algeria. Carte de visite.

Sat 5th: Moscow

One of my most magnificent (and most expensive) purchases...

Gentleman in traditional Russian costume, wearing a medal. Moscow, Russia. Cabinet card.

Fri 4th: Woolwich

Cabinet photographs from Woolwich are often of military types from the Military Academy or the Artillery Barracks or the Military Hospital. Here, however, is a bright young thing with gleaming eye, in mufti...

Gentleman. Woolwich, England. Cabinet card.

Thur 3rd: India

One of my favourite photographs despite the fact that the man at the back on the left forgot to read the moustaches only rule...

Entomologists, India. A group of gentlemen with their collecting paraphernalia. Albumen print. (Click on the photographs for a larger view...)

Wed 2nd: Aden

Aden, in Yemen, was a British possession until 1967. A port, it lay equidistant from the Suez Canal, Bombay and Zanzibar and provided somewhere to stock up on supplies to and from British India, in particular coal and water. It was administered as part of British India until 1937 and was known as the Aden Settlement. This photograph was taken by J. Coutinho around 1900. The soldiers are numbered on the back and the word Rattlers is written in pencil. Can anyone explain what this means?

Four soldiers. Cabinet card. Aden, Yemen.

Tues 1st: Split

A uniform handsomely worn.

Officer. Split, Croatia. Cabinet card. Signed Dalmatia, 7th July 1910.

Mon 30th: British Guiana

There has been the odd rare occasion when I have bought a group photograph where someone hasn't a moustache. Here is an instance, bought because it is from British Guiana - the only photograph I have so labelled. Please ignore the man at the front and the man far right at the back, who is staring into the wrong distance anyway.

Group of soldiers. British Guiana. Large cabinet photograph.

Sun 29th: Oxford

As I callow 18 year old I went to Oxford University to read music. Now I have a little terrier called Sniff. Telescope these two things and this could be me:

Gentleman and his dog. Oxford. Two albumen prints.

Sat 28th: Cleveland

The vast majority of cartes de visite are posed with the portrait shot vertically. It is rare to find them with a horizontal image; rarer still to find a horizontal image of more than one person; extremely rare to find a horizontal portrait of four men; impossible surely to find those four men ALL sporting moustaches?

But, as today's photographer, Theo Endean of Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, boasts on the back of his cdv, "All kinds of portraits" taken. 

Result!

Four gentlemen. Clevehand, Ohio. Carte de visite.

Fri 27th: Kyoto

It appears that Sherlock Holmes didn't fall over a cliff in the evil clutches of Moriarty after all. He relocated to Kyoto.

Two gentlemen. Kyoto, Japan. Cabinet card.