Eutin, Germany, 1896 (II)

A postcard shows the outdoor area of a restaurant at the lake promenade near the Voss House in Eutin, Germany. It has not been stamped, but carries a handwritten remark 13^th August 05. Photo © Alb. Giesler

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The story behind the image

A while ago I shared this awesome 1896 print by German photo pioneer Albert Giesler. It shows the restaurant at the promenade near the Voss House in his hometown Eutin. Now I have found an image that shows exactly the same scene on a postcard dated August 1905, published by M. Glückstadt & Münden, one of the largest postcard publishers of the time.

But, wait! It’s not exactly the same image. Only upon first glance it seems to be identical, and the photos must have been created on the same day and almost at the same time.

• Neither the camera position nor the furniture have changed at all.
• The postcard shows an enlarged and cropped variant of the original negative to make best use of the confined space.
• The lady has slightly moved.
• The man has sat down next to her – he’s leaning to the railing in the other photo.
• The second guy (in the center)has slightly moved and now hides his hat behind the railing.
• The third guy (on the right) still stands in the sea of chairs and keeps looking puzzled.
• The angler has slightly moved to the left.
• The ducks are gone.
• The two rowing boats have moved on.

So, what’s so interesting about this shot, then?

Well, first of all, we can safely say that the image on the postcard was shot in 1896, not in 1905 as the handwritten remark might suggest (the print carries the date of 1896 in the lower right corner.) This tells us that Albert Giesler probably had licensed an image for the postcard that came from his large portfolio instead of shooting a new image. Giesler was smart enough to capture at least two shots, and I’d assume probably even more. This enabled him to provide a unique image to the publisher instead of re-releasing an image that had already been in use for a while.

And there’s more: The rowing boats indicate the succession of the shots. The print was shot first, and the image on the postcard was shot second. This is confirmed as both boats have followed the path indicated in the first print.

Finally, it’s not a big surprise to see that the photo print has a superior quality compared to the postcard.

In any event, both images are quite useful in understanding how photographers worked in the late 19^th century.

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The high resolution image

Capture Date	1896
Photographer	Alb. Giesler
Location	Eutin, Germany
Image Source	9 x 13.8 cm CDV print
Digital Image Source	EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo
Digital Image Source Format	TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB
Edited Image Format	JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB
Edited Image Dimensions	6558 x 3704 Pixels
Copyright	Photo by Alb. Giesler, Scan by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com