Cornell University Library Curational comment from "Dawn's Early Light: The First 50 Years of American Photography", October 20, 2011 - May 4, 2012, Hirshland Exhibition Gallery in Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University
In 1854 French photographer Disdéri (1819-1889) invented a camera capable of exposing eight carte de visite size images on a single negative using a four-lens camera with a sliding plate holder. This sheet of Disdéri photographs shows the print in the original state before cutting and mounting. Disdéri's invention, together with the wet plate collodion negative and albumen paper, brought about a new era of low cost and mass-produced portrait photography.
