Head In Hand

Head In Hand
Originally uploaded by The Nite Tripper
Via Flickr:
This is a bizarre old carte de visite photograph taken during the 1800's of a man with a large knife in one hand and his head in another that may have been sold at a carnival or traveling freak show or simply as a gag photo to give to friends. There is nothing to identify this man or to identify the photographer who produced this example of what was then top of the line photo manipulation.

The carte de visite was a small photograph mounted on a thick paper backing measuring 2.5 inches by 4 inches that was developed in Paris, France by André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854 and soon spread into worldwide use. The name is derived from the fact that the photograph was the size of a calling card and could be given to people the same way as a calling card. This photographic medium remained popular until the early 1870’s when they were replaced in popularity by the larger cabinet card photograph.