English Cabinet Cards: Mount Styles New Styles (1895-1930)

English cabinet cards
Figure 1.--This new style cabinet card portrait was taken in 1909. It shows the family of Sir John Kirk, a Bruitiush naturalist, explorer and diplomat who played an important role in ending the Indian Ocean slave trade. We do not have the size of the card, but it was probably larger than the classic 19th century cards. The date, color, shape, and small image to surface area all help to identify it as one of the new style mounts. In this case the photographer is identifiied, but not the city and street address as was common with the classic style mounts.

Some of the classic mounts can still be found from the early-1900s, but the new style mounts mostly date from the mid-1890s and early-20th century. We see some in the late-1890s. The break seems a little earlier than in America Mostly we see the new style mounts after the turn of the century in the 1900s and 10s. The new style mounts vary in size, shape, and color. Larger cards seem more common, but curioudsly not necesarily larger image sizes. Some of the cards has larger cards but relatively small images, meaning that the image covered much less of the total area of the card. This seems to have been most common in the 1900s. We are not sure why anyone would prefer this as opposed to a lsarger image, but it was popular for a time. There were different mount colors, but the same grey-green color we see in America was also popular in England. And we see highly decorative mounts. We do not know why the more varied new style mounts suddenly became popular. Unlike the classic mounts there were many different shapes and sizes. These new style mounts also appeared in America and at the same time. At this time we more differences between English and American cabinet cards. We notice differences in sizes and decoration. We do not, for example, see American cabinet cards like the one on the previous page. The highly decorative mounts are characterestically English. As some of the new styles we often do not have the studio information, identifying the countries of origin can be difficult.

Chronology

Chronological information about the different styles of mounts is very useful information. Because most cabinet cards are undated, the ability to date the mounts helps to estimate the dates of the cards. his is very important in ourHBC assessment of fashion. The chronology of the mounts are a little difficult establish because we have found so few dated Engklish cabinet cards. Some of the classic 19th cebtury mounts can still be found after the turn-of-the 20th century into the early-1900s. The the new style mounts in contrast only appear in the mid-1890s We see some in the late-1890s. The break between the differebt style of cabinet cards seems a little earlier than in America but only by a few years. Mostly we see the new style mounts after the turn-of-the century in the 1900s and 10s and some into the 20s. The 1909 card here is a good example (figure 1). Unlike the classic mounts, there were many different styles of the new mounts with varying chronologies. We are not sure about the format of large format cabinet cards.

Prevalence


Characteristics

The new style mounts vary in size, shape, and color. This was quite a deoarture as the classic mounts were so similsr. Larger cards seem more common, but curioudsly not necesarily larger image sizes. Some of the cards has larger cards but relatively small images, meaning that the image covered much less of the total area of the card. This seems to have been most common in the 1900s. We are not sure why anyone would prefer this as opposed to a larger image, but it was popular for a time. There were different mount colors, but the same grey-green color we see in America was also popular in England. And we see highly decorative mounts. We do not know why the more varied new style mounts suddenly became popular. Unlike the classic mounts there were many different shapes and sizes. These new style mounts also appeared in America and at the same time. At this time we more differences between English and American cabinet cards. We notice differences in sizes and decoration. We do not, for example, see American cabinet cards like the one on the previous page. The highly decorative mounts are characterestically English.

Studio Information

As some of the new styles we often do not have the studio information, identifying the countries of origin can be difficult. The old-style, classic mounts almost always had the studio minformation. This was not the case for many of the new-style mounts.








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Created: 4:07 PM 5/31/2018
Last updated: 3:25 AM 3/24/2019