Thin paper used for cartes de visite

distributed · Jun 9, 2021

Recently I have come across a number of examples of cartes de visite dating from the late 19th century. I noticed that the photographic paper mounted on top of the cardboard seems rather thin. The thinnest enlarging paper I have used has 190 g/m^2 and seems much heavier.

What kind of paper (base) was used for cartes de visites? Is something similar sold today?

BrianShaw · Jun 9, 2021

That’s actually an interesting question. The albumen paper of that time was very thin, I imagine that it was somewhat difficult to work with, especially when wet.

gone · Jun 9, 2021

I reckon that each photographer could use whatever paper they had lying around. The albumen process required coating the paper, so any paper that was handy would work.

BrianShaw · Jun 9, 2021

Albumen paper could be bought straight off the shelf. Unlike today, hand coating wasn’t necessary. That was the real appeal to that innovation!

sionnac · Jun 16, 2021

I like Graphics Atlas as a tool for helping to determine print processes. Here's part of the resource on albumen prints: http://graphicsatlas.org/identification/?process_id=143#objectview

BrianShaw · Jun 16, 2021

https://cool.culturalheritage.org/albumen/library/c20/reilly1978.html

https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/atlas_albumen.pdf

sionnac · Jun 16, 2021

BrianShaw said:
https://cool.culturalheritage.org/albumen/library/c20/reilly1978.html

https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/atlas_albumen.pdf

Getty Atlases are great.

distributed · Jun 16, 2021

Thanks for all these links. Great resources!

Thin paper used for cartes de visite

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