Daguerreotype portrait of John Romeyn Brodhead. London: Mayall, 1848

A splendid half-plate daguerreotype of Herman Melville’s advisor and agent John Brodhead, scholar and diplomat.

John Romeyn Brodhead (1814-1873) was a historian and a member of the American diplomatic corps. Best remembered for his services as Herman Melville’s agent in London, Brodhead had known Melville and his family since their youth.

$15,000

The Home of Washington, as it appeared May 14th 1859. Baltimore, H.E. Hoyt & Co., 1859

The earliest dated photograph of Mount Vernon, this is one of the very earliest known photographs of George Washington’s home.

$12,500

Anthony Berger. Abraham Lincoln, seated portrait.. Washington: Mathew Brady Gallery, 9 February 1864

The classic Brady $5 bill photograph. This celebrated portrait, the basis for the five-dollar bill engraving used for most of the 20th century, is one of seven poses taken by Anthony Berger at Mathew Brady’s Washington, D. C. studio on February 9, 1864. The most prolific photographer of Lincoln, Brady himself did not actually operate his cameras during the war years, instead training and employing men like Alexander Gardner and his successor Anthony Berger, who took this picture, to operate the camera.

$12,000

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Philadelphia: Gutekunst, April or May 1865

This impressive full-length portrait of Grant in uniform was made at war’s end to capture the triumphal hero at the height of his powers. This portrait shows Grant emulating the pose of Napoleon in David’s famous Napoleon in his Study (1812), a pose favored in military portraits of the time.

$9,500

Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday. No place, 1860s

This is a rare large format portrait of the famed general Abner Doubleday. Doubleday played a prominent role in the Union Army from the war’s outset. He was was second in command at Fort Sumter when the war started. He later commanded a division at Antietam, Gettysburg and other major battles.

$9,500

Album containing 80 tintype portraits of women and girls. American, 1860s-1880s

This fascinating album contains 80 tintype portraits of women and girls, young and old. Some are dressed plainly, while others are in fine dresses, and at least one is in mourning attire. The photographs head and shoulders, seated, and full-length standing portraits.

$9,500

Bust portrait of Whitman wearing a hat. New York, 1878

Boldly signed and dated 1879 by Whitman. Whitman observed of this delightful portrait, “It is one of my good-humored pictures. … This is strong enough to be right and gentle enough to be right, too: I like to be both: I wouldn’t like people to say ‘he is a giant’ and then forget I know how to love.”

$7,200

Black Beauty / Model Pat Evans. New York, 1970s, printed 2012

This is a splendid Anthony Barboza portrait of Pat Evans, the celebrated 1970s model, designer, and icon of Black beauty.

$5,200

Grandmaster Flash. 1984. New York, 1984

This portrait captures Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five at the height of their fame. The pioneering group broke through to mainstream success with the 1982 single “The Message,” which made the top 100 pop charts. “’The Message’ was [the first record] to prove that rap could become the inner city’s voice, as well as its choice” (Rolling Stone). In 2007 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first hip hop group to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2012 Rolling Stone declared “The Message” (with the refrain “Don’t push me, ’cause I’m close to the edge, I’m tryin’ not to lose my head …”) the number one hip hop song of all time.

$4,500

Portrait of Walt Whitman holding a butterfly. Philadelphia, [early 1880s?]

A beloved Whitman photograph, framed with a large, bold signature of the poet.

$4,500