272
commercially as the Superintendent of the American
Photo-Relief Company in Philadelphia in 1870. Be-
ginning in the 1870s Carbutt became the president
of professional photographic organizations including
the Photographic Society of Philadelphia (1875), the
Photographer’s Association of America (ca. 1879), and
the Dry Plate Manufacturing Association (1884). In
1879 he introduced the fi rst commercially successful dry
plates in America, followed by the fi rst orthochromatic
dry plates in 1886. In 1895, Carbutt began to experi-
ment with and manufacture X-ray plates to reduce the
exposure time for radiography. On 26 July 1905 Carbutt
died, following several years of poor health, possibly as
a result of his X-ray experiments.
Linda Wisniewski
CARD PHOTOGRAPHS: MINOR
FORMATS
Card photographs are comprised of paper photographic
prints pasted to a larger sheet of cardboard, often called a
card or mount. The majority of 19th century paper pho-
tographs were card photographs, and they were popular
into early 20th century. Card photographs come in a
variety of formats. The different formats often resemble
each other, but differ in size of mount. There is wide
variety of lesser known and often obscure formats. Some
of the most obscure formats were marketing gimmicks.
Many card photographs come with the photographer’s
stamp on the back and/or front. The majority of 19th
century card photographs used albumen prints, though
other types of prints will be found. Most 20th century
card photographs were gelatin-silver prints. Most of
these were standard commercial formats, marketed to
photographic studios.
The United States Library of Congress catalogs the
following listing as some of the more common card
photographs. Many other formats can be found, includ-
ing unique designs made by a photographer. The listed
size is for the card and not the photographic print which
usually will be smaller.
- Cigarette card—2¾ × 2¾ in.; 7 × 7cm. Popular era,
1885–1895. To promote sales, cigarette cards were
inserted in boxes of cigarettes and other tobacco
products. The photographic print was albumen and
usually is the same size as the mount and depicts
popular subjects including actors, athletes and other
celebrities. They will also contain advertisement for
the tobacco brand. In addition, there were cigarette
cards that were non-photographic, most often printed
with colorful lithography. - Kodak card—4¼ × 5¼ in.; 10.8 × 13.3 cm; 1880’s
(photograph is circular). These were the fi rst Kodak
‘snapshots’- Boudoir card—5½ × 8½ in.; 14 × 21.06 cm; 1890’s
- Swiss card—6½ × 2.85 in.; 16.5 × 7.3 cm
- Imperial Cabinet Card—7 × 10in.; 17.8 × 25.4 cm;
1890’s. The Imperial Cabinet Card became most
popular in the early 20th century. - Promenade card—7½ × 4 in.; 19 × 10.2 cm
- Paris card—9¾ × 6¾ in.; 24.8 × 17.1 cm
- Panel card—13 × 7½ in.; 33 × 19 cm
After 1906 mounted photographs were still made and
were in a variety of sizes, but there was no longer the
standardization of sizes or names.
David Rudd
Further Reading
Darrah, William, World of Stereographs, Gettysburg, Pennsyl-
vania, 1977.
——, Cartes de Visite in 19th Century Photography, Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, 1986.
Reilly, James M., Care and Identification of 19th Century
Photographic Prints, Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, New
York, 1986.
Rudd, David E., Authentication and Forgery Detection of Prints
and Antique Photographs, Seattle, Washington, Cycleback
Press, 2001.CARJAT, ETIENNE (1828–1906)
Like numerous other photographers, Etienne Carjat’s
(1828–1906) entry into photography was through cari-
cature. A fascination with celebrities and physiognomy
in nineteenth-century France greatly contributed to the
overwhelming popularity of the art of caricature. Daily
and monthly journals were fi lled with portraits of po-
litical and cultural leaders, often with enlarged heads
and small bodies. Though altered, these fi gures were
recognizable by the humorous emphasis on carefully
selected, exaggerated physical attributes. Carjat began
creating caricatures of the actors of the Parisian theaters
in the 1850s, turning his passion for the theater into a
lucrative enterprise. In 1854 he published a series of
lithographic caricatures representing the principal actors
of Paris. The fi rst installment appeared under the name
Le Théâtre à la Ville. Each image was accompanied by
an amusing quatrain. Carjat later reproduced these cari-
catures as cartes-de-viste and the photographer Pierre
Petit reproduced the same images in a larger format.
Experiencing a good deal of success with his cari-
catures, Carjat chose to abandon industrial design. He
began to create illustrations for Presse Théâtrale and
founded the journal Diogène Portrait et Biographies
Satiriques des Hommes du XIXième siècle with his
friend Amédée Rolland. Appearing each Sunday from
August 20, 1856 to April 26, 1857, the double-paged
sheet was illustrated with a portrait which was accom-
panied by a biography. He often used the photographs