Figure 1.--This colorized German CDV is undated, but we would guess was made in the 1870s. The boy holds open a CDV ablum which has "Bild oder Blut" printed at the front. A German reader tells us, "This not a special album. Actuallu it is a little rude. I am pretty sure this is a commercial CDV. " 'Bild oder Blut' is a threat meaning "picture or blood". You see the boy is holding a big meanicing stick. So if you don't give your CDV to add to the album, you have a big problem ... These kind of CDVs were placed on the first page of albums with picture collections. I have one of these CDVs with a more friendly message: a girl with folded hands and the text 'Bitte Dein Bild' ('please your picture')."

This colorized German CDV is undated, but we would guess was made in the 1870s. The boy holds open a CDV ablum which has "Bild oder Blut" printed at the front. A German reader tells us, "This not a special album. Actuallu it is a little rude. I am pretty sure this is a commercial CDV. " 'Bild oder Blut' is a threat meaning "picture or blood". You see the boy is holding a big menacing stick. So if you don't give your CDV to add to the album, you have a big problem ... These kind of CDVs were placed on the first page of albums with picture collections. I have one of these CDVs with a more friendly message: a girl with folded hands and the text 'Bitte Dein Bild' ('please your picture')."

Chronology

This colorized German CDV is undated, but we would guess was made in the 1870s.

CDV Cards

This does not look like a family portrait, but a commercial card. People in the late 19th century did not only put family portraits in their CDV albums. They might also buy CDVs of famous people, political leaders and celbretiies to add to their albums. This apparently is another type of commercial card that people added to theur albums.

CDV Albums

The boy holds open a CDV ablum which has "Bild oder Blut" printed at the front. A German reader tells us, "This not a special album. Actuallu it is a little rude. I am pretty sure this is a commercial CDV. " 'Bild oder Blut' is a threat meaning "picture or blood". You see the boy is holding a big menacing stick. So if you don't give your CDV to add to the album, you have a big problem ... These kind of CDVs were placed on the first page of albums with picture collections. I have one of these CDVs with a more friendly message: a girl with folded hands and the text 'Bitte Dein Bild' ('please your picture')." The image is interesting becuse it provides an interesting insight into the popular CDV albums at the time. Our German reader tells us, "Well, I saw already something very similar in an ebay auction where children were holding an English text. So this is not a special German idea." HBC has not noted cards like this in America, but that does not mean that they did not exist.

Clothing

Another interesting aspect of this card is the way the boy is dressed. I am not entirely sure, but I think that he is dressed to depict a working class street ruffian. I suspect that this made him seem more threatening to misdle-class Germans who would have purchased the card for their CDV albums. Germans at the time did not dress this way to have their photographs taken. The blue blouse I think would suggest a worker's smock. The barefeet poverty. And of course he carries a menacing stick.

Reader Comments

A Dutch reader writes, "I don't know what to think of this image and especially the text--'Bild oder Blut'. Picture or blood (the small letters are difficult to read). Bild und Blut (Picture and blood) would make better sense, although I fail to understand what the creator of this photograph had in mind. Is it a question? A provocation? Bild oder Blut? Something like trick or treat, or more serious "your money or your life"? The word Blut is disturbing. One famous slogan of the Nazis was Blut und Boden (blood and soil). But, of course, this picture was taken long before Hitler arrived on the scene. His ideas, however, were not exactly new. There have been signs of super-nationalism in Germany long before the Nazis came to power (Nietzsche, Wagner, Jahn). Whatever it is, I don't like the picture."

An English reader writes, "What a strange thing to do. Buy this type of picture to put in your picture album. I think it must be a joke that was hilarious in its day. In our time it now seems a terrible rude thing to have in a photo album The words are certainly strange but the picture is a piece of drama. The boy looks menicing."

Created: 8:49 PM 1/2/2008
Last updated: 10:28 PM 1/3/2008