Figure 1.--Here we see two uidentified German brothers. This is an unusual CDV. It has a uniform white border rather tan the syandard style with the studio and city name printed at the bottom. We believe this was an early 1860s CDV before the format of these cards became more standardized. The studiominformatioin was printed on the back.

CDVs were very popular in Germany during the second half of the 19th cenntury. They dominated German photograpy for several decades. We first see German CDVs in the 1860s. There were probably some being made in the 1850s especially the late-50s, but we have not yet found any to archive. As innother countries the CDV suddenly became enormously popular (about 1860). German photography was not at first as common as in America, primarily for economic reasons. With the popularity of the CDV we begin to see numbers of photographic images in Germany for the first time. And by the 1870s we begin to see substantial numbers. CDVs seem to gave been the principal German phototographic format for most of the late-19th century in Germany and much of Europe. America went primarily to cabinet cards in the 1870s. They appeared 1866) and were an instant success. This did not happen in much of Western Europe. Eastern Europe was a little different. CDVs after appearing were were common throughout the rest of the century. Cabinet cards were also taken and by the 90s were also common, but did not replace CDVs. We are unsure why the CDV persisted longer in Western Europe. One would have thought that thevlarger image size of the cabinet card woukld have attracted nany consumers. Perhaps price differences were a factor. We see CDVs done in the same style as cabinet cards. We still see some CDVs in the early-20th century.

Created: 10:41 AM 11/11/2019
Last updated: 10:41 AM 11/11/2019