Adah Isaacs Menken

A carte-de-visite portrait of Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-1868), one of the most notorious actresses of all time. She scandalised and enthralled audiences in equal measure when she appeared as Mazeppa, scantily clad and strapped to the back of a horse. A number of famous men were fascinated by her, including Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Alexandre Dumas, père.

Photographed by A. Liébert of Paris.

Originally a naval officer, Alphonse Justin Liébert began his photographic career in San Francisco but soon moved to Paris, where he operated at various addresses between 1864 and around 1900. Following the Siege of Paris and the short-lived Paris Commune, in 1871 he published numerous views of the ruins of Paris. He was the author of La photographie en Amérique [English: 'Photography in America'], published in 1864, and later of La Photographie au charbon mise à la portée de tous [a loose translation would be ‘Carbon printing made simple’].