Snapshots of the Past

Old Woman Reading a Book – Antique Wall Art

Old Woman Reading a Book, c. 1900 — historic photograph
Old Woman Reading a Book, c. 1900. Historic photograph from the Books collection.

(Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Old Woman Reading a Book, a historic photograph rich in period detail. Drawn from the Snapshots of the Past archive, it is an authentic piece of documented history.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. Perfect for a home, office, library or classroom wall, and a gift with a story behind it. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

Old Woman Reading a Book

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An elderly woman absorbed in a book makes up this platinum print, a quiet domestic scene of the kind photographers often made around 1900. The record credits The Misses Selby, N.Y, though it does not say whether that name refers to the maker or the sitter. Platinum paper was prized in that period for its soft tonal range and matte surface, qualities that suit the calm, reflective mood of the figure. Its place under the books heading reflects how pictorialist photographers of the time treated everyday reading as a subject worth careful study.

Created / publishedc. 1900
Mediumphotographic print, platinum, 15.7 x 11.4 cm. mounted on cream mat, 34.4 x 26.1 cm.
NotesThe Misses Selby, N.Y
Original scan4,007 × 5,000 px · prints to 13 × 17 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-222427

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Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

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