Description

Over 300 fascinating photographic portraits from 19th-century Victorian-era America, printable for crafts cards scrapbooks jewelry art. 

• OVER 200 IMAGES OF MEN. 
• Also includes WOMEN, GIRLS & BOYS, COUPLES, FAMILY PORTRAITS, interesting occupational portraits. These are all "real people," not studio models.
• Some African-American portraits. 
• BONUS: 20 additional portraits featuring men and women in Civil War era fashions. These are not daguerreotypes, but rather photographs from glass-plate negatives, all clear and restored with beautiful silvery clarity.

Victorian, Edwardian, and vintage images in many styles ready to print and share. Great for altered art, card making, scrapbooking, collage, decoupage, gift wrap and hang tags, labels, primitives, ornaments, jewelry, fabric arts, and endless other creative projects.  The only limit is your imagination.

A Special Note About These Antique Images:

Most of these pictures have scratches.  They are very old (many over 150 years) and the original images were very sensitive to damage from scrapes.  As we began our restoration, we at first planned to "clean them up" entirely and remove all these marks.  However, as I worked with the images I came to appreciate that these signs of age give the images much of their character, and for this reason we decided to leave most of them looking rather worn and weathered.  All the images have been digitally enhanced to remove fine "dust" and correct contrast/brightness.  We did extensive restoration, especially around faces, but we intentionally left some of the original scratches, blotches and faded edges.

We think these signs of age give the images a wonderfully antique and gothic feel, and complement the air of dignity and/or mystery displayed by many of the portrait's subjects.  (Some are more scratched than the samples.)  It's a great look for altered art.  However, if you desire "perfect" images without any scratches, this collection is not for you!

What is a Daguerreotype?

The daguerreotype (named after one of its inventors, French chemist Louis J. M. Daguerre) was one of the earliest forms of photography.  Daguerreotypes involved the direct transfer of the image onto a mirror-like polished surface coated with chemical vapors.  This process was significantly quicker than earlier forms of portraiture, and so became widely popular throughout the United States during the mid-19th century.  For the first time average people of modest means could acquire exact likenesses of themselves and their loved ones.  Many Civil War era portraits were daguerreotypes. 
This popularity continued until they were replaced by the less labor-intensive techniques of ambrotype and tintype.

Using These Images

DOWNLOAD: Images will be sent in a zipped file.

COPY & PASTE INTO YOUR IMAGE-EDITING SOFTWARE TO EDIT. Can be printed directly onto any paper, card stock, tissue, vellum, transparencies, stickers, labels, even fabric transfers to make quilt designs and embroidery patterns for personal use.  Whatever will work in your printer!

ALL IMAGES ARE 300 DPI.
Images are JPG.  Most will be 2-3 inches (about the size of an ATC) when printed at 300 dpi, or twice that size at 150 dpi (can be resized before printing, down to very small). Images are NOT watermarked.

Questions?  See our FAQ page!  If you still have questions, feel  free to email us and we'll be glad to help.

PLEASE READ FULL LICENSE/TERMS before purchasing.

Dos and Don'ts

Copyright  2007, 2015, Lunagirl Images. All images are offered under license, and some of the individual images are copyrighted by us based on our creative alterations of the originals. 

You may print unlimited copies of images or collage sheets for your own non-commercial personal or educational use, and alter them for your own non-commercial use as well.  Please note that this permission is for you, the purchaser, only (images may not be forwarded to others).

You are welcome to sell your one-of-a-kind altered art and handmade items that incorporate these images (if your work is sold or displayed online or published in a magazine, blog, etc., include credit to Lunagirl.com).  

Images may not be resold or redistributed, and there are limits on commercial use (see full license/terms for details). 

Use in commercial graphic design, professional advertising or marketing, or media production, creation of design resources for sale, or sale of craft supplies, unaltered prints, or items in large numbers, requires permission and/or additional commercial use license.  

Questions?  See our FAQ page!  If you still have questions, feel free to email us and we'll be glad to help.

PLEASE READ FULL LICENSE/TERMS before purchasing. Thanks for visiting!