This photograph sits in an album that intermixes pages of _cartes-de-visite_ with full-page photocollages. Victorian collagists took their photographic materials primarily from _cartes-de-visite_. Patented by André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, the _carte-de-visite_ was easily and inexpensively printed ([84.XD.1157.2179](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107JXY)). By the 1860s, _cartomania _had taken hold. It became customary to exchange _cartes-de-visite_ on social calls. These small studio portraits measure 3 ½ x 2 1/8 inches, about the size of a playing card. It is not known whether they removed the photographs from the thick cardstock on which they had been mounted or obtained unmounted prints from the photographer.
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People also collected cards of the royal family, actors, and politicians (see for example, the image of Princess Christina of the United Kingdom found in [this album](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107NCC)). A woman’s collection of _cartes-de-visite_ visually displayed her social circle and favorite celebrities The _cartes-de-visite_ could be inserted in specially manufactured album pages that came with slots. These display pages might include painted ornamentation, as in [this one](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/107NDA?altImage=99030c65-6895-493a-8dac-cf232b3b2313) from The Westmorland Album. Carolyn
![View in the Ancient Sculpture Gallery. [Crystal Palace, at Sydenham], Thomas Richard Williams, 1851](https://media.getty.edu/iiif/image/bdbf54e3-cfe7-4e7c-a6f3-01c74405532e/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)
