[Broadside, Photography] Daguerreotype Saloon. The Subscriber having located his SALOON IN THIS VILLAGE for a short time would take this opportunity to inform the inhabitants of the Village and vicinity that he is now prepared to take ORIGINAL DAGUERREOTYPES, or to Copy Daguerreotypes or Pictures ... [caption title and text]

Prov. R. I. [ Providence, Rhode Island ]: Henry L. Tillinghast, 1855. First Edition. Near Fine. First Edition. Broadside. Single leaf, printed on recto only. 9 x 6 1/4 inches. Wove paper with no watermarks. Cleanly trimmed (with minor variation on upper edge). A nice impression noting some ink ghosting (presumably from other copies printed at the same time). Signed in type "J. A. Foster" at base of leaf. Intended for brief use in a town or village, these broadsides had a low survival rate. The photographer would pin them up or circulate in the village they were in, drumming up whatever business they could with this new wonder. Once they left, there was no use for the advertisement anymore. Traveling photographers left fewer traces of their businesses - even semi-permanent establishments could put advertisements on their photographs, in local papers, etc. The itinerant photographer was just that - moving around constantly. It is a wonder any record survived - and most we find were those presumably successful (or lucky) enough to continue for some time. Or, perhaps the reverse - the condition of this broadside is such that it was likely not circulated.

J. A. Foster's notice is uncommon with only five copies in OCLC/Worldcat as of this writing (2 at Harvard, one each at Library of Congress, American Antiquarian Society, and Brown). An interesting piece of American Typography, with many different typefaces.

The American Antiquarian Society includes this note with their copy: "Henry L. Tillinghast, the printer, was at the address given as early as 1854, as indicated by an advertisement he placed in A list of persons assessed in the city tax for 1854 (Providence, R.I.: H.H. Brown, 1854)