Two portraits of elderly couples, one taken in a garden, the other in the studio. Gawler, South Australia, late 1890s.

A$40 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

I. Couple seated in a garden. Sepia-tone gelatin silver print photograph, cabinet card format, 166 x 112 mm; recto of round-cornered mount with silver-embossed imprint of Marchant s Studio, Gawler, S.A. ; verso blank; both the print and mount are in excellent condition. II. Couple in a studio with elaborate painted backdrop. Gelatin silver print photograph, cabinet card format, 166 x 112 mm; recto of square-cornered mount with silver-embossed imprint of Marchant s Studio, Gawler, S.A. ; verso blank; the print has a tiny spot of silverfishing at top left corner, otherwise print and mount are immaculate. A highly contrasting pair of portraits when juxtaposed but they were both taken by the same photographer, around the same time! In 1897 Philip Marchant returned to Gawler, South Australia from Tasmania, where he had spent a decade working as a photographer in Latrobe. Marchant is probably best known for his famous double self-portrait taken around 1865.

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.