Explaining the "O Numbers"

When collectors of Lincoln photographs are speaking of specific Lincoln photographic poses, they often reference them by the O-Numbers. The O Numbers, established by Lloyd Ostendorf and Charles Hamilton in the definitive Lincoln photographic reference book, Lincoln in Photographs, are illustrated in the book below.

	An Impressive 11 x 14 Civil War style salt print on a 16 x 20 archival mount. From The trade edition of 375 prints, each individually numbered. Price: $3,750.00
	Select artist proof of the above from the edition of only 85 carefully chosen prints. Price: $5,750.00
	Deluxe archival frame for the above with custom velvet mats, and UV light protection glass (as pictured) Price: $1,250.00

OUR COLLODION GLASS WET-PLATE, directly derived from the destroyed original imperial-format glass plate, was made to produce salt and albumen photographs. In fact, any time you have ever seen this image of Lincoln, its original derivation was our collodion glass plate!

ONLY ORIGINAL METHODS have been used in this production—the very same methods that Gardner himself would have used in making such photographs. It is exactly these methods that bring us the evocative nature of a 19th century photograph. The size has an unbelievable impact, bringing Lincoln “to life”--warts, war-weary wrinkles, pores, and all! This cannot be a more engaging photo!

THIS PHOTOGRAPH has a clarity and richness that can only be produced from an original early wet-plate. There is much in Lincoln’s face that our photos will reveal which you have not seen before: individual whiskers; penetrating eyes; an incredible skin quality; an unusual definition to the tie and coat, and more.

THAT THIS IS DERIVED from the glass plate is most apparent. The collodion process used is clearly visible, as is the edge of the glass plate.

THE PRODUCTION is by France Scully Osterman, a specialist and educator in wet-plate collodion photography and editor of The Collodion Journal and by Mark Osterman, photographic process historian. They are two of the leading fashioners of the long lost salt photograph from original plates; and it is their skill that allows you to own such a lifelike image of Lincoln.

THESE ARE STRICTLY LIMITED to 375 Numbered Prints and 85 Publisher’s Proofs, each on Authentic Salt-print paper, mounted to a 100% acid-free backing. Presented in a protective 3/4 leather and linen portfolio, with overlaid gold-stamped leather panels. The portfolio is lined with acid-free paper. Included is a wealth of historical material about the print.

WE GUARANTEE that these photographs will delight you; but if not, your money will be immediately refunded. A Certificate of Limitation will accompany each photographic print, which has been discretely blind-stamped, so future generations will not believe they were produced by Gardner himself in the 1860s.

THESE PRINTS will duplicate exactly what Gardner’s artistic eye wished us to see from his plate. It is the equivalent of any Victorian photograph and shows you what the contemporary public might have viewed, if they had been produced. We predict that these photographs will become even more valuable to future collectors.

PLEASE NOTE:
This image does not show the quality of our actual photographic offering, but is for illustration only.

	Price: SOLD please inquire about availabilty of similar items

Handsomely framed with museum mounting and 8-ply matte. It has a clarity and dramatic impact accomplished by producing the photograph using original processes, chemicals, and cameras and placing them on authentic hand-made albumen paper for which the negative was produced. Taken on a 1 to 1 equivalent, these prints will duplicate exactly what Gardner's artistic eye wished us to see from his plate. It is the equivalent of any Victorian photograph and shows you what the contemporary public was viewing. We produced 75 numbered some four years ago, selling them out in a matter of weeks. This is the first of the seventy-five to come back onto the market.

	8x10 Print Price: $165.00
	11x14 Print Price: $225.00

OUR OFFERING HAS A CLARITY not achieved since Gardner's own originals.

THIS PRINT IS RENDERED on acid-free paper and is hand produced. The enlargement has retained such a fine clarity that the print has surprising power. Hang it at 6' 4" and there is "the animal himself." We have left in most of the glass imperfections, so the image comes alive even more.

YOUR CHOICE OF SIZES, THIS print is a great gift for Lincoln lovers everywhere.

PLEASE NOTE:
This image does not show the quality of our actual photographic offering, but is for illustration only. The print has a warm tonality that is evocative of the era.

	Price: $495.00

We offer the above 11 x 14 photograph, handsomely and archivally framed. This framed piece measures 16 x 20.

This is a wonderful gift for the Lincoln enthusiast.

	Numbered, Limited Edition of 375, 14” x 15” Original Photograph on a 16” x 20” Mount. Price: $3,750.00
	Numbered, Select Artist’s Proof, Limited Edition of 85* Price: $5,750.00 * If you prefer not to receive the portfolio, please subtract $300 from the cost of the photo Payment Plan Available, Please Inquire
	Deluxe archival frame for the above with custom velvet mats, and UV light protection glass (as pictured) Price: $1,250.00

THE PRESIDENT SAT DOWN under the big skylight on a small cane chair, a white marble top pedestal table at the left. Gardner gave Lincoln the day’s Washington Chronicle to read. Lincoln kept it as a prop, later varying the poses by moving the newspaper, substituting books and standing so he towered above the table. After the gentlemen left, Gardner developed the wet plates, and decided which pose would make the best single salt print imperial enlargement.

LATER, GARDNER’S BEST POSE WAS TAKEN from the negative rack and an attempt was made to cut it into four equal plates; but the glass severely cracked! The top two exposures were destroyed and only the bottom right one remained reasonably complete. The negatives of the other three poses were either lost or destroyed.

THE SURVIVING NEGATIVE WAS LATER DEPOSITED in the John Hay Library at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. The library generously allowed us to produce original prints from this rare wet plate negative.

VIEW LINCOLN’S “FLY”

WE CAN ACTUALLY SEE A FLY that landed on Lincoln’s trouser leg! For the first time we can read the newspaper’s masthead and date, and clearly view the leathery quality of Lincoln’s hand on the paper. This photograph has a clarity and richness that can only be produced from an original early wet-plate.

ONLY ORIGINAL METHODS have been used in this production—the very same methods that Gardner himself would have used in making such photographs. It is exactly these methods that bring us the evocative nature of a 19th century photograph. The size has an unbelievable impact, bringing Lincoln “to life”.

THE PRODUCTION is by France Scully Osterman, a specialist and educator in wet-plate collodion photography and editor of The Collodion Journal. She is one of the leading fashioners of the long lost salt photograph from original plates; and it is her skill that allows you to own such a life-like image of Lincoln.

THESE ARE STRICTLY LIMITED to 375 Numbered Prints and 85 Publisher’s Proofs, each on Authentic Salt-print paper, mounted to a 100% acid-free backing. Presented in a protective 3/4 leather and linen portfolio, with overlaid gold-stamped leather panels. The portfolio is lined with acid-free paper. Included is a wealth of historical material about the print.

WE GUARANTEE that these photographs will delight you. A Certificate of Limitation will accompany each photographic print. The photograph has been discretely blind-stamped, so future generations will not believe they were produced by Gardner himself in the 1860s.

THESE PRINTS will duplicate exactly what Gardner’s artistic eye wished us to see from his plate. It is the equivalent of any 19th century photograph and shows you what the contemporary public might have viewed, had they been produced. We predict that these photographs will become even more valuable to future collectors.

PLEASE NOTE:
This image does not show the quality of our actual photographic offering, but is for illustration only.

	An impressive 11 x 14 size on a 16 x 20 mount. From the trade edition of 905 prints, each individually numbered. Price: $575.00
	Select Artist’s Proof of the above from the edition of only 85 carefully chosen prints. Price: $875.00
	Deluxe archival frame for above with custom velvet mats, and UV light protection glass (as pictured) Price: $1,250.00

ALL FOUR PRINTS ARE FROM the second generation negatives and show much retouching in the eyes, left cheek, and forehead. Did any prints from the two negatives before they were retouched and copies survive? The late Lloyd Ostendorf, the foremost authority on Lincoln photographs found none, after searching for over 50 years. Miraculously, this collodion wet plate glass positive survived and has recently been discovered . Even more amazing it is from the rare lost second negative (O-42) that only one known print survives.

BECAUSE ALL OTHER LIFE PRINTS had formerly been clumsily retouched from Gardner's negatives, for the first time in over 140 years we can now see skin texture in Lincoln's high left cheekbone, the bumpiness underneath his eyes, and his worried, furrowed brow. We can even see that the heavy winter wool fabric of his coat had been previously covered by the retoucher's brush.

THE GLASS PLATE IS SO INCREDIBLY SHARP that not only can we see the highlights from the reflecting mirror in Lincoln's eyes, but the secondary light also where it comes through his gray blue eye lens on the other side. There is now a clear nose wing and deep furrows on his bottom lip and Lincoln's skin even looks "ruddy" from the Illinois prairie winter winds that whipped it raw. This is not a faint, retouched old relic of what once was, but an authentic monumental document of the man himself.

BEING ON GLASS, MODERN TECHNOLOGY can convert it to a negative and unretouched prints can be printed from it for the first time. From this rare glass plate, were printed a very small select edition of original photographs. Only recent modern computer technology allows us to convert the old collodion wet plate positive into a negative and then meticulously print an untouched archival iris giclée from it. Although an original glass plate was used, this directly printed giclée photograph is actually superior to anything done in 1861. Because the computer scan is more sensitive to tonal differences; and since the iris giclée printer has over 1200 microscopic jets per inch each containing permanent, archival ink , every nuance in this amazing photograph emerges.

AVAILABLE TO COLLECTORS FOR THE FIRST TIME in over one hundred years, this lost Lincoln photograph is printed and strictly numbered from 1 to 950 with only 85 artists proofs. The are recorded in the Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illinois, and no more will ever be printed as the giclée negative is destroyed.

Requests for special numbers will be honored on a first come basis. Also, you will be offered your chosen number before anyone else for future offerings.

"Making the Unobtainable Obtainable"

ONLY ORIGINAL METHODS were used in producing this remarkable image. This daguerreotype is the equivalent of any produced in the mid-1850s, the high point of daguerrean activity. The original daguerreotype is lost, but a fine, clear negative of the original image remains. [Provenance: King Hostick Collection.] Through the skills of Mike Robinson, today's foremost Daguerrian artist, this exciting duplicate daguerreotype has been produced.

THIS IS THE CLOSEST ONE CAN GET TO AN ORIGINAL

AN ORIGINAL CANNOT BE HAD, since a daguerreotype is unique. However, because our old negative was taken directly of the original daguerreotype, we can offer this image to collectors in the original form for the first time since the photo was taken. There is much in the image that this photograph will reveal which could not be seen in later copies: the outdoor coarseness of Lincoln's skin; his penetrating eyes; and a crispness of detail not offered anywhere else. The back of the daguerreotype has been carefully inscribed so that future generations will not believe it was produced in 1858. The brass mat is stamped with the edition number and no more will ever be produced.

OUR GUARANTEE: Only traditional materials and methods were used in the making of this daguerreotype! You will be delighted by the image or your money back.

• Placed in a Thermoplastic "Union" Case patterned after a Victorian Textured, Central Oval Design with a
  decorative border and burnished gilt hinges.
• Housed under a numbered Oval Brass Mat bordered by a red velvet mat preserver.
• Opposite an embossed Decorative Velvet Pad with an original, charming decorative "photographer with his camera" design.
• Guaranteed indistinguishable from a 19th century image!

Each print is made from a direct contact-negative produced from Brady's original collodion wet-plate glass negatives. These fine prints have all the vitality, depth of tone, and hue that Brady's prints possessed when first produced. These prints are reproduced on gold-toned, hand coated, acid free, pure cotton albumen paper--and each is a work of art.

The early photographic techniques used by Brady in the 1860s have been carefully recreated. However, some improvements have taken place: a double-coating of the paper produces dense and vivid images; a high intensity mercury halide light guarantees perfect exposure for each print; and a special final wash produces authentic prints that are exceptionally durable as well as beautiful.

These prints are authorized by the Library of Congress, and produced by special arrangement with the Library; each is certified as authentic.

Each photograph is approximately 9 inches by 11 inches and is archivally matted. A full historical description of the photograph is included.

When Ordering, Please Use The Titles Above The Photos.

These fine art prints are taken directly from the color corrected graphics files and reproduced with a Cymbolic Sciences Light Jet 5900 on Fuji CDII Crystal Photo Paper with an archival life of 60 years. These are true photographic prints.

Other views and sites are available. Gettysburg views include The Trostle Farm, The Sherfy Farm, The Wheatfield, and The Soldiers' National Cemetery. Other Civil War sites available including Antietam: The Sunken Road, Burnside Bridge and the Mumma Farm and Cemetery, also Appomattox and Harper's Ferry.

Other views from US History sites include Lexington Virginia: The Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, The University of Virginia: The Lawn & The Village, Washington & Lee University: The Lee Chapel From the Colonnade and the Lawn & the Colonnade, Mount Vernon From The Bowling Green, Mount Vernon & The Potomac River, Williamsburg: The Governor's Palace from the Palace Green, Market Square from the Magazine, Washington Monument From the Constitution Gardens, The Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, The Blue Ridge Parkway: The Wyatt Cemetery and Wildcat Rocks.

As these are framed items, the shipping charge is $25.00