Wow, where to begin? With some assumptions. And some facts. And some leaps. So, William Forbes married Louis Prang’s daughter. We knowthis to be true. Also, Forbes printed Album Cards for Prang. There are letters that substantiate this. I am not aware of anyone else who did card publishing/lithography for…

As you may have seen in previous stories, I collect all of the possible 1860s and 1870s album cards I can get my hands on. Many I know but there are those elusive ones that I put away but don’t know who to attribute them to. One such publisher that…

Until now I’ve been focused on the CDV size “traditional” album cards from the 1860s-1870s, which are 2.5x4 inches. There is another category that arose during this period which was the “Larger Album Cards”. If you’re unaware, a man named Jefferson Burdick devoted his life to collecting and organizing cards…

In the 1860s, the Carte De Visite (CDV) photograph was all the rage. Portraits had come down in price from the ambrotype days and people all over the United States were having their portraits taken. This gave rise to CDV albums, meant to hold pictures in place. Since most families…

There aren’t many cards by Charles Magnus. He did a lot of song sheets, envelope covers, larger lithographs but other than his Civil War portraits there aren’t many sets to cover. When the opportunity presented itself some time ago to acquire this set of Fortune Telling Cards, I didn’t think…

Some time back a friend of mine showed me a typical calling card from the 1800s — rectangular shape, usually around 1.5 x 3 inches in size. Most people had calling cards in the second half of the nineteenth century and there were many clever designs with applied scraps that…

Prang produced a number of album card sets of various wild flowers, presumably by the months that they bloom in. There are 2 parts for May-August and one part for September. These cards, in themselves, are not terribly hard to find. Some of the sets were published later and can…

Starting in 1863, Prang began publishing these “Wood Mosses”, which were called “American Wood Mosses” in his catalogs. There are 2 parts to this set, totaling 24 cards. All are standard CDV size and blank backed. I have a full envelope for this set and really like the artwork, especially the spider web in the middle. The cards are very colorful in nature and all vertical in orientation. A lot of cards share the same title so I will just add them all here for reference purposes.

Not knowing something gnaws at me. I search everywhere for clues and to try and gain additional understanding until I have figured it out. This “set” of 12 cards (may be an assortment from several sets), was in a Prang Card Album but was not his work. There were also…