W.S. Bailey + Co. teams Sowing + Dragging. Series: "Views in Ione City, and Valley." Albumen stereoview. Ione City, California: Mrs. E. W. Withington, 1857-1876. Series title to mount recto. Photographer's imprint to verso alongside period ink title and description: "W.S. Bailey + Co. teams Sowing + Dragging. [Pro]? in Buggy in distance (wind shook the camera)."

Eliza W. Withington (1825-1877) was a Michigan native who married George V. Withington in 1845. Four years later, George caught Gold Fever and headed to California in the Rush of 1849. In 1852, Eliza followed with their three children, and they eventually settled in the mining supply town of Ione. Her diaries of her overland journey are held by the Huntington Library and were published in Ho for California! Women's Overland Diaries (1980). 

She traveled to New York City in 1856 to learn the photographic arts and returned to Ione City where she established the Excelsior Ambrotype Gallery. She was extremely successful, operating her studio, offering portrait photography, and offering stereoviews of the vicinity, domestic life in mining camps, and landscapes including the Sierra Nevada. 

The inscription here is a fascinating glimpse into the craft of the accomplished photographer when she notes that there is some imperfection in the exposure because the "wind shook the camera." 

Work by Withington remains scarce on the market, with inscribed examples being rarer still. 

 [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards, Stereographs] [Western Americana, Western History, Western Expansion, Wild West] [Women, Women’s History, Suffragettes, Women’s Movement, Suffrage]