Cartes de visite Gallery

Child suffering from gangrene of the mouth (cancrum oris), Italy. Photograph, ca. 1880

Silvio Pellegrini. Noma. Da illustrare unico caro mio.
Mounted as a carte de visite bearing photographic studio stamp: M. Torrani, Milano. - 1880

© Wellcome Collection

I.D. Waterman, photograph by C.W. Terpening, 1876

History. I was brought to light Feb. 19th 1848 ...
The lettering in verse by C.W. Terpening is printed on the verso of the mount: "History. I was brought to light Feb. 19th 1848, / Thank Heaven I didn't longer wait - / When I was eighteen months old / Medicine crippled me as you behold; / But in years, I'm now twenty-nine, / And weigh one hundred and twenty-five. / I measure round the full of my chest / Forty-two inches, at the best; / And round the muscle of my arm, / Just fifteen inches to a charm. / My health is not the best you see, / Though I'm always happy as I can be; / And if you have any desire to know / Who made the picture you now hold, / And wrote these poetical lines / Stop at Creston some of these times, / Call on C. W. Terpenning, by name / Who makes a picture you can't blame. / Now if you wish to prosper in the land, / Pay 25cts. for the history of this man; / And then you'll live the "Golden Rule" / If you were in his place he would do so by you / And I know he'll thank you for the same, / And I. D. Waterman is his name"

© Wellcome Collection / Clinton Willoughby. Terpening