A RELIC OF THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHER IN BRITAIN OF 107 YEARS AGO:
RICHARD BEARD'S TRADE CARD.
The Trade Card reproduced above is an important item in the history of photography. In the year 1839, Daguerre‘s process of photography on a metal plate had been announced to the world, and in 1840 the English patent was acquired by Richard Beard, a London coal merchant. The original card was printed by chromo-lithography and, although its exact date is unknown, we do know that in 1842 Beard had the three studios proclaimed above: at Parliament Street, King William Street and Regent Street, for in that year The Illustrated London News was founded and in its issue dated July 23 there appears Beard's first advertisement bearing the same three addresses, and stating that his charge for a miniature portrait bust was one guinea, two guineas for a full-length, and "10s 6d. For each additional likeness to form a group." Our reproduction is published by courtesy of Mr. George H. Gabb, F.C.S.
Reproduced in The Illustrated London News Christmas Number, 1947, p. 14.
