American Victorian Costume in Early Photographs, by Priscilla Harris Dalrymple

This book is an awesome resource for CDV's, beginning in the 1840's and going up through the 1890's. The pictures are really great, with equal amounts of men, women, and children photo's. I was very surprised to see that some of the pictures are very sweet; it gives a very real sense that people did actually have lives back then.  And all of the kids were so cute! Most of the kids actually smiled.

What Is a CDV?

As I have been doing more research, I have been hearing the term 'CDV' a lot. I was reading an article to Mom when she voiced the question, "What is a CDV?" I didn't know.
So I looked it up. It is an abbreviation for carte de visite, which is a kind of picture that was patented by some Frenchman.
CDV's were the method the actual printing of the photo; each photo was very small, but most are incredibly clear. I know the one of the little girl's is rather blurry, but it was too cute not to post!