E. Davey Lavender is the photographer of this cabinet card portrait of a pretty well-dressed woman in Bromley, England. Bromley is a suburban town located outside of London, England. The woman in this photograph is is flashing a half smile as she sits beside a newspaper on a table. Edgar Davey Lavender was born in Westminster in 1855 and was married to Harriet Lavender (b 1869). Records indicate he operated his studio in Bromley in 1881 through at least 1891. In 1901 he was located in Grove Park (another suburb of London). Lavender died in 1909. Printed on the cabinet card are a few items of note. First, both the front and back of the photograph are marked (“Gold Medalist 1889”). This likely signifies that Lavender won a gold medal for his work at an exhibition in 1889. This accomplishment is being used as an advertisement. The second noteworthy item is that on the reverse of the photograph his business is referred to as “Portrait and Equestrian Studios”. It is my belief that the term “equestrian studio” means that Lavender had the ability to photograph people on horseback and produce photographic portraits of horses. This cabinet card portrait has excellent clarity and is in very good condition (see scans).
Buy this Vintage Cabinet Card (includes shipping within the US) #3309
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The beautiful woman in this vintage real photo postcard is Millie Legarde. She was an actress and a singer. She was active in her career between 1898 and 1911. She was a sitter for eight portraits in Great Britain’s National Portrait Gallery. She performed in numerous theater productions and in one film (1905). Searching for biographical information about Miss Legarde was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Preliminary research revealed that she appeared in many plays. Newspaper articles of the time, mention her name, but provide little information. It’s as if she was in the “witness protection program” and nearly all information about her has been scrubbed. Millie posed for a number of postcards but this card is certainly the nicest one I’ve seen. This postcard was published by Ralph Dunn & Company which operated out of London, England. The card is part of a series (no.A476). The postcard was manufactured in Berlin, Germany. (SOLD)
This vintage real photo features two lovely girls wearing their school uniforms. It is likely that they are sisters. The patch on their jackets probably reveals where they attended school. This photo was taken at the Van Ralty Limited Studios. The company operated photo studios in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham, Oldham, and Bolton, England. Research uncovered one article that reported that the Van Ralty enterprise was in business between 1911 and 1933, It is unclear if the writer was referring to one of the individual studios or referring to the entire operation. This vintage postcard is in very good condition (see scans). SOLD
The pretty woman featured in this real photo postcard is Mable Woods. She was a theater actress. I could find little biographical information about her. I did discover that sometimes her name appeared as “Mabel” Woods rather than “Mable” Woods. I stumbled across a couple of real photo postcards in which Miss Woods made an appearance. Two of these cards were individual portraits of the actress but another postcard paired her with an actress name Rose de Vella. Mable Woods and Miss de Vella toured India together, performing in the chorus line for one of the “Gaiety Girls” touring companies. Irish born, George Edwards (1852-1915) was the theater manage of London’s Gaiety Theater. At one point he had sixteen touring companies. He had a propensity for hiring pretty young women to work as “Gaiety Girls”. These women were the chorus girls appearing in Edwardian musical comedies that began in the 1890’s. These women were an important ingredient for staging a successful musical production. They danced and appeared on stage in bathing attire and in the latest fashionable clothing. Unlike the corseted actresses from earlier musical burlesque shows, Gaiety Girls were viewed as respectable and refined. One writer reports that Gaiety girls “were polite, well-behaved young women”. Many Gaiety girls progressed to very successful acting careers. The list of former Gaiety girls reads like a hall of fame of celebrated actresses. Gaiety girls that catapulted to major roles include Marie Studholme, Mabel Love, Ellaline Terriss, Lily Elsie, Gladys Cooper, Phyllis Dare, and Gabrielle Ray. These and other starring alumni of the chorus, kept the moniker “Gaiety Girls”. The young women performing in Edward’s shows peaked the interest of wealthy gentlemen who became known as “Stage Door Johnnies”. They would wait outside the stage door and invite the actresses to dinner at fine restaurants. A number of women accepted the invitation. Sometimes the women would eventually marry one of these dates. A number of these women married noblemen, while others became the wives of professionals. In the book, “The Gaiety Years”, author Alan Hyman refers to the chorus as becoming “a matrimonial agency for girls with ambitions” to marry titled men. This postcard is in very good condition (see scans).
This vintage real photo postcard features a priest and his noble spaniel dog. This portrait was photographed by Albert Hester who operated a studio in London, England. Hester is mentioned in the British Journal of Photography (1910) for participating in a London exhibition. The card was published by Societe Industrielle de Photograpie (SIP) of Rueil, France. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 