The Museum CollectionEdgar Allan Poe Albumen Print Owned by David Bridges
Front
Back of Card
Printed on the back of the photograph: "Stanton & Butler/ Photographers and Artists/ N.W. Cor. Fayette and Charles Sts/ BALTIMORE"
Inscribed on the back: "Edgar Allan Poe/ Given by Poe to my grandfather David Bridges. They were intimate friends and schoolmates and went in the famous swimming match together. My grandfather gave this photograph to me- Elizabeth Macgill Bridges." The "swimming match" took place in 1824, and Poe won by swimming six miles in the James River. Since both the pastel portrait and this photograph of it were both made after Poe's death, it not possible for him to have given it to David Bridges or anyone else.
Description: According to the inscription on the back, this albumen print photograph of Edgar Allan Poe was once owned by Poe's childhood friend and classmate David Bridges. A card enclosed with the photograph states: "Carte de visite photograph of a portrait of Poe by Baltimore artist Oscar Halling, c. 1890. The portrait was one of the many derivations of the Pratt daguerreotype, made in Richmond in 1849, about 3 weeks before Poe's death. On the reverse of the photograph is a label of the photographers Stanton and Butler of Baltimore."When he declared bankruptsy on December 19, 1842, Poe listed David Bridges of Richmond, Virginia as one of his creditors. Poe owed him $20. The photograph was derived from a ca. 1868 pastel drawing of Poe by Oscar Halling. The portrait was photographed by Stanton and Butler in the 1870s. Photographs of the portrait, authorized by Amelia Poe, were distributed at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Search CollectionCategories
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