Cartomania

‘Invaluable and lively… Paul Frecker turns his scholarly mind and stylish eye on the great photographers who bequeathed us documents of an age of fundamental and often cataclysmic change, upending many of our preconceptions about life in the era of Dickens and Balzac’ Hamish Bowles, Vogue

‘No book on the carte de visite would be complete without a well-curated selection of these photographs, and Frecker has certainly chosen some brilliant examples’ Creative Review

‘This eye-opening and frequently jaw-dropping history of the phenomenon… opens up a set of fascinating peepholes on to a now vanished world’ Spectator

’[T]he books implicit argument for the diverse oddness of 19th-century life, something many Victorians were happily aware of, and which prompted so much photography in the first place’ The London Review of Books

‘His impressive, original research is communicated with appropriate style and panache. A major achievement’ Mark Haworth-Booth, former head of photography, V&A

‘Uniquely in my experience Frecker recreates for us the resonant things of the Victorian period, so far from us and yet, if we look as he does, still, feelingly, with us’ John Sutherland, academic, columnist and author

‘This book is lavishly illustrated with incredible examples of the genre, from royalty and celebrity through to the subversive courtesans of the day… It’s a fascinating and exhaustive study, Frecker is an expert in the field and combines the factual and historical with much wry humour and clearly relishes relaying his knowledge as well as the most sensational stories of the day’ Wylde magazine

‘The definitive text on the carte-de-visite… a remarkable book, eminently readable, and long overdue’ The Photo Historian

‘Cartomania takes a surprisingly deep dive into the history and phenomenon of Victorian cartes de visite… even the most jaded of photo historians will find something new to discover… a multilayered exploration of the cartomania phenomenon, moving far beyond humdrum studio portraiture… The carefully curated illustrations are a delight’ Sheila Masson, Studies in Photography

Previously a highly successful stylist within the fashion industry, for the last twenty years Paul Frecker has been a dealer in nineteenth-century photography, specialising in cartes de visite. Paul’s Instagram account @19thcenturyphotos has over 10,000 followers. He lives in a converted church in the Scottish Highlands.

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