Mary Todd Lincoln's Cell

[Susan Higginbotham]

Susan, do you know how much a photo cost then? I once asked this about Lincoln's days (can't find it right now) and I seem to recall the amount someone stated in a reply was not little. Also I didn't just think of the exposure time but AFAIK getting the camera ready still needed a while and, as you said, a professional.

Looking quickly through a newspaper database, I see that a photographer in New Haven, CT, in 1875 was charging $2 for a dozen photographs, as was one in Cleveland. A photographer in Quincy, Illinois charged $1 for a dozen photographs (probably CDVs as opposed to the larger cabinet photographs which were in vogue), with the fancy new "oil photographs" going up to $6 depending on the size.