A previously unrecorded photograph of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the renowned 19th-century essayist and poet, has been acquired by the William Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library in Massachusetts. The image, a carte-de-visite (CDV) photograph taken from an original daguerreotype circa 1848, is believed to be the second or third earliest known photograph of the transcendentalist.
The photograph was discovered by Massachusetts collector Victor Gulotta, who acquired it among hundreds of images from a collection that had been buried for more than half a century. Upon examining the Emerson photograph, Gulotta recognized its exceptional rarity and unfamiliarity. With assistance from experts at the Concord Free Public Library, it was determined to be a previously unknown image, originally produced in Liverpool in the 1840s during Emerson's visit to England. The library reached an agreement to acquire the photograph from Gulotta.
Anke Voss, curator of the William Munroe Special Collections, expressed delight in the acquisition. "Thanks to my predecessor, curator Leslie Perrin Wilson, and the late Joel Myerson's comprehensive Emerson iconography, it was possible to confirm it among only very few known images of Emerson from the 1840s," Voss said. "The image is particularly striking as it shows Emerson reading in a relaxed pose and smiling." The photograph was taken during the same trip to England that produced the painting of Emerson by David Scott, which is also in the library's collection and depicts Emerson in a more formal pose at the lectern.
The acquisition adds a significant piece to the visual record of Emerson, offering a more intimate portrayal of the philosopher. For more information, visit the library's website at https://concordlibrary.org/special-collections.
