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We only begin seeing Bulgarian images with the appearance of albumen printing and as the country was in the process of liberation from the Ottoman Turks. The earliest images we have found so far are cabinet cards, we think date to the early-1880s. This coresponds roughly with Bulgarian independence from the Ottomans. There may have been albumen photographs taken earlier, but they were not common and we have not yet found any. Often the information on the front included 'Cabinet Portrait' We do not see that in America and western Europe. We are not yet sure about CDVs. The CDV was the first alnumen format to become popular (1860s). It appeared a few years before the cabinet card. But all of this was while Bulgaria was still under Ottoman control and contacts with the West and Western technologies like photography were limited. We do not know if CDVs were taken. We suspect that they were, but cabinet cards were clearly the dominant format. And as we see in other countries, there are sharp differences between cabinet card mounts beginning around the turn-of-the 20th century we see different mount styles. During the 19th century we see the classic mount style that did not vary much. Than about the turn=of-the 20th century we see all kinds of new and varied mount styles. Our limited Bulgarian archive makes assssments difficult. Some of the cabinet cards after the turn of the 20th century may have been done with silver nitrate prints, but this is difficult to determine without the actual print so we are including them as long as they were mounted on CDV or cabinet card mount as the mount is useful in dating. Dating is one of the primary reasons for our interest in photography. Of course a silver nitrate photograph also helps with the dating.
The early photographic proccesses (DAgs and Ambros) had flaws. They were expensive and were one shot affairs. Duplicates could not be made. The albumen process created a negative and this duplicates could be made to send to families and friends. The process was invented (1850s), but did not become popular until about 1860s when the CDV became a huge success. A few years later the cninet vard appeared, essentially a large CDV. The albumen process crated an inexpesive paper print, not an expensive metal plate or a fragil glass plate.
We only begin seeing Bulgarian photographic images as the country was in the process of liberation from the Ottoman Turks. By this time the albumen process has been the dominant photographic process for two decades. As a result, the earliest images we have found so far are cabinet cards, we think date to the early-1880s. This coresponds roughly with Bulgarian independence from the Ottomans. There may have been albumen photographs taken earlier, but they were not common and we have not yet found any. We see the same basic cabinet card mounts in Bugaria during the late 19th centuet that we see in the rest of Europe and America. Around the turn-of-the 20th century we see many new and varied styled mounts.
The two main albumen formts were CDVs and cabinet cards. The dominant format in Bulgaria was the cabinet cards. CDVs had declined sharply in America, but were still being made in many European countries. They do not seem for some reason to have been very popular in Bulgaria. We have found mostly cabinet cards. While CDVs were especially popular (1860s-70s), Bulgarian was an Ottoman province with little or no photographic industry. We are still working on this topic. Hopefully Bulgarian readers will be able to offer some insights.
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