New Victorian Friends

Just a quick post. Today we went into town to do a bit of shopping, and I requested that we stop off at the antique / junk shop where we found Mr Cook and Mr Cox. Much to my delight, the shop had a batch of little Victorian photos in. These ones are smaller than the others I bought - more like playing card sized - but no less charming for that.

Please forgive the slight blurriness of the photos. We are having camera-to-computer problems currently.

The names given are of the photographers, by the way.

George Mansfield, Dublin. A most excellent beard.

R. Seggons, Belfast. This is the only photo for which I have the name of the subject. She's apparently Mary Louise Graham, and I think she looks a little like she doesn't want to be a demure lady. It's something in the eyes. Maybe a hint of rebellion. Or maybe I'm just reading things into it too much.

W. S. Moir, Portobello. Matt describes this as being like a photo one would have taken to give to one's mother or sweetheart shortly before going to war. I can see what he means.

J. Wellings, Peckham. The dress! The furniture! It's all too charming.

Charles Wright, Edinburgh. I admit, this one I bought largely for the furniture too. And the shirt / waistcoat combination is excellent.

Thomas Burns, Edinburgh. I am slightly irked that what is probably my favourite out of all of the pictures is also probably the blurriest. This man is wonderful in SO MANY WAYS. The checked trousers, the walking stick, the fobwatch chain going through one of the buttonholes on his waistcoat... it's all just marvellous. I also adore his expression, which is as if the maids were laying out a lavish cooked breakfast on the sideboard, and he's slightly worried that the rest of the family will demolish it and leave him no eggs and devilled kidneys.

W. T. Watson, Hull. Absolutely awesome cravat action going on, and an excellent moustache.

J. Hobbiss, Leeds. OH MY GOD the mutton chops! That's some seriously dedicated sideburn-growing. Love it.

They all have charming little advertisement-y (totally a word) backs to them, too. Click the picture for a larger (but undoubtedly blurrier) view.

A couple of odd little extras. This seems to have been cropped from a magazine. It's "The late Mr Thomas MacKenzie", and the writing on the back suggests he was part of MacKenzie & Son, a company which was "the only bat makers in Scotland", being "Manufacturers of Cricket Bats, Stumps, Tennis Racquets, Golf, Footballs, and all Outdoor Requisites." What gorgeous wording.

I don't have a clue who these people are, nor in which decade this picture was taken (I'm hazarding a guess at the 60s, but I could well be wrong). I just... well, it has the remnants of glue on the back of it, suggesting it was stuck to something, and it seemed sad for the people to be forgotten in a junk shop. So I bought it. Yes, I know I'm weird.