The Descent Of Man...

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A hugely important album of 19 Carte de Visite portrait photographs of Charles Darwin is offered in Reeman Dansie’s Fine Art auction on the 8th and 9th of November. The portraits taken by leading Victorian photographers including Julia Margaret Cameron and Elliott & Fry document Darwin’s changing visage over three decades and may be said to record ‘the decent of man’.

The collection includes seven Carte de Visite portraits personally signed by Darwin himself and each card and the tooled leather album are inscribed by Darwin’s daughter, Henrietta Litchfield (1843-1927), it may be assumed that she compiled the collection to remember her father by.

This historic album is anticipated to ignite international interest and carries a pre-sale estimate of £50,000-£100,000. Offered from the same source is a related Victorian photograph album, also of Darwin interest, which includes photographs of Charles Darwin, his wife Emma and their children, together with related branches of the Darwin family including members of the Huxley and Wedgwood families, and various other notable figures within their circle including actress Jenny Lind, a child portrait of Ralph Vaughan-Williams, William Makepeace Thackeray, and royal personages including Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra and Princess Louise.

This important album is estimated at £5,000-£10,000. Both albums are from the Estate of George Erasmus Darwin (1927-2017) and were discovered hidden in a Georgian bureau, during a routine probate valuation, these were previously unknown and represent a fresh exciting new discovery for Darwin collectors.