Strange Cabinet Card of a Woman (Perhaps a midwife)
I have not posted much since the last flickr fiasco. I still check my photostream every day but the lack of activity has been very discouraging. I now get my photographic conversation fix on Facebook. Maybe I will try posting something evderyday to see if things ever improve here.
We bought this cabinet card at a local antique show last week. I must say there are several things about it that puzzle me. It is giving me vibes of an amateur or unskilled itinerant photographer. An older woman sits in what I think is a farm yard. She holds a white flower on a long stem in her left hand and a book in her right hand. A table and chair have moved outside. A large book rests on the table and a stuffed rag-dog sits on the ground. What does it all mean?
I posted a detail of the cover and a facebook poster discovered that it is "Know Thyself: The Science of Life; or Self-Preservation". It is described as a Medical Treatise on Nervous and Physical Debility, Spermatorrhea, Impotence, and Sterility with Practical Observations on the Treatment of Diseases of the Generative Organs" - 1881. I found this a mystery until I learned that this book was used by 19th century midwifes.
Does anyone else find this as strange as I do?
Strange Cabinet Card of a Woman (Perhaps a midwife)
I have not posted much since the last flickr fiasco. I still check my photostream every day but the lack of activity has been very discouraging. I now get my photographic conversation fix on Facebook. Maybe I will try posting something evderyday to see if things ever improve here.
We bought this cabinet card at a local antique show last week. I must say there are several things about it that puzzle me. It is giving me vibes of an amateur or unskilled itinerant photographer. An older woman sits in what I think is a farm yard. She holds a white flower on a long stem in her left hand and a book in her right hand. A table and chair have moved outside. A large book rests on the table and a stuffed rag-dog sits on the ground. What does it all mean?
I posted a detail of the cover and a facebook poster discovered that it is "Know Thyself: The Science of Life; or Self-Preservation". It is described as a Medical Treatise on Nervous and Physical Debility, Spermatorrhea, Impotence, and Sterility with Practical Observations on the Treatment of Diseases of the Generative Organs" - 1881. I found this a mystery until I learned that this book was used by 19th century midwifes.
Does anyone else find this as strange as I do?