[DICKENS CHARLES]: (1812-1870)

[DICKENS CHARLES]: (1812-1870) English novelist. A good vintage unsigned stereopticon photograph of Dickens (approximately 17.5 x 8.5 cm), the sepia albumen print featuring two portrait images of the novelist standing in a three-quarter length pose, wearing a distinctive black wool overcoat with a quilted silk lining hand stitched with a scrolled feather design. a dark waistcoat and pocket watch, and resting one hand on the back of a chair. Photograph by Jeremiah Gurney & Son of New York and bearing their imprint to the left border of the photographer´s mount. A few contemporary and later annotations to the verso and with a few traces of former mounting. Some light age wear, otherwise VG The present image of Dickens was captured in November 1867, upon or soon after Dickens had arrived in America for his second reading tour. From December 1867 until the April of the following year, Dickens performed seventy-six readings, shuttling himself between Boston and New York. The dapper and distinctive overcoat that Dickens can be seen wearing was given by the novelist to the newspaper publisher and philanthropist George W. Childs of Philadelphia, who in turn gifted it to P. T. Barnum´s American Museum. Jeremiah Gurney (1812-1895) American daguerreotype photographer, known for having taken the only known photograph of Abraham Lincoln in death.