S10, 025-02, 1870s, Cabinet Card, The Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, DL, JP, FRS (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been born Jewish.

Disraeli was born in Bloomsbury, then a part of Middlesex. His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; Benjamin became an Anglican at the age of 12. After several unsuccessful attempts, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837. In 1846, Prime Minister Robert Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain. Disraeli clashed with Peel in the House of Commons, becoming a major figure in the party. When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. (ref. Wikipedia)

Works by Disraeli:

Novels

• Vivian Grey (1826)
• Popanilla (1828)
• The Young Duke (1831)
• Contarini Fleming (1832)
• Ixion in Heaven (1832/3)
• The Wondrous Tale of Alroy (1833)
• The Rise of Iskander (1833)
• The Infernal Marriage (1834)
• A Year at Hartlebury, or The Election (with Sarah Disraeli, 1834)
• Henrietta Temple (1837)
• Venetia (1837)
• Coningsby, or the New Generation (1844)
• Sybil, or The Two Nations (1845)
• Tancred, or the New Crusade (1847)
• Lothair (1870)
• Endymion (1880)
• Falconet (unfinished 1881)

Poetry

• The Revolutionary Epick (1834)

Drama

• The Tragedy of Count Alarcos (1839)

Non-fiction

• An Inquiry into the Plans, Progress, and Policy of the American Mining Companies (1825)
• Lawyers and Legislators: or, Notes, on the American Mining Companies (1825)
• The present state of Mexico (1825)
• England and France, or a Cure for the Ministerial Gallomania (1832)
• What Is He? (1833)
• The Vindication of the English Constitution (1835)
• The Letters of Runnymede (1836)
• Lord George Bentinck (1852)

The Cabinet Card was a style of photograph which was widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 108 by 165 mm (4+1⁄4 by 6+1⁄2 inches).

The carte de visite was displaced by the larger cabinet card in the 1880s. In the early 1860s, both types of photographs were essentially the same in process and design. Both were most often albumen prints, the primary difference being the cabinet card was larger and usually included extensive logos and information on the reverse side of the card to advertise the photographer’s services. However, later into its popularity, other types of papers began to replace the albumen process. Despite the similarity, the cabinet card format was initially used for landscape views before it was adopted for portraiture.

Some cabinet card images from the 1890s have the appearance of a black-and-white photograph in contrast to the distinctive sepia toning notable in the albumen print process. These photographs have a neutral image tone and were most likely produced on a matte collodion, gelatin or gelatin bromide paper.

Sometimes images from this period can be identified by a greenish cast. Gelatin papers were introduced in the 1870s and started gaining acceptance in the 1880s and 1890s as the gelatin bromide papers became popular. Matte collodion was used in the same period. A true black-and-white image on a cabinet card is likely to have been produced in the 1890s or after 1900. The last cabinet cards were produced in the 1920s, even as late as 1924.