Thin paper used for cartes de visite

[distributed]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

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

 

[sionnac]

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]

Thanks for all these links. Great resources!