Pierre Spake

Sarony, Napoleon, photograper (1821-1896)

MacDonald, George (1824-1905) author    

1872/3

165 by 108mm (6½ by 4¼ inches). 
albumen print photograph mounted as a cabinet card, with photographer’s details to recto  small chip to lower left corner 
George McDonald was poet, author of fantasy and other fiction and theologian.  He was a close friend of Lewis Carroll who took photographs of him and his children

This image would have been taken by Sarony in his New York studio in late 1872 or some time prior to May 1873. In the fall of 1872 MacDonald arrived in Boston with his wife Louisa and oldest son Greville. By then he was the author of over twenty books and went on to enjoy a highly succesful American tour. He met Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, Stowe, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Mark Twain and others. The MacDonalds went twice to hear the Jubilee Singers, a group of freed slaves sponsored by Fisk University. The first time that they heard these singers, George MacDonald sat with tears rolling down his cheeks and Louisa MacDonald was chocked with a combination of tears and laughter. After the second concert on January 17, the MacDonalds stayed on and persuaded them to sing in England.   
[ref: 11400 ] £650