A collection of photographs and documents associated with David and Daniel Bendann, brothers who founded and operated a well-known photographic firm in Baltimore, Maryland.  As Jewish Southern sympathizers working in the border slave-state of Maryland, the Bendann Brothers’ work during the Civil War is significant and complex. They took portraits of prominent Confederate officers, such as Robert E. Lee.

A highlight of this lot is two documents signed by Daniel and David attesting that they would not aid “enemies in hostility to the Government of the United States.” These Oath of Allegiance forms, mandated by Federal authorities, were required of suspected sympathizers in contested areas such as Baltimore, where loyalty to the Union was in constant question. The Bendanns’ signatures provide rare evidence of the tension between personal politics and professional survival in the Civil War border states.

Also included in the lot is a full plate ambrotype that shows two men relaxing near a river. The view is believed to depict one or both of the Bendann Brothers, but is significant regardless of the attribution, for its size and content.

Complete inventory includes: 

Documents

1. Partly printed parole of honor completed in manuscript. Signed by David Bendann. New York, 11 October 1862. 1 page, 7 x 6 ½ in. No other such documents have been sold at auction, making this truly one of a kind. EXCEEDINGLY RARE. This parole of honor was witnessed by a member of the 5th New York Battery, which had just finished fighting in the Battle of Antietam and was stationed in Maryland in October 1862, hence the mentions of New York on the document. 

2. Leaf from Appletons’ Hand-book of American Travel. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1867. 2 pages, 8vo. With printed advertisement for Bendann Brothers’ Galleries of Photography to recto. With printed advertisement and illustration of Barnum’s City Hotel to verso. 

3. Printed trade card. [Baltimore]: A. Moen & Co., n.d. 3 ½ x 2 in. Recto reads: “Bendann Brothers / Galleries of Photography / New York / Cor. / Fifth Avenue & 17th St. / Baltimore / 207 Baltimore St.” 

4. Printed trade card. N.p., n.d. 2 ¾ x 4 ¾ in. Recto reads: “ART / David Bendann / Mirrors / Framing / 181 Baltimore Street, / Carrollton Hotel Block. / WEDDING PRESENTS A SPECIALTY”

Photos

1. Whole plate outdoor ambrotype. N.p.: [Bendann], n.d. Uncased. With black lacquered plate. 

2. Studio bust-length portrait cabinet card. Baltimore: Bendann, n.d. Inscription to mount recto identifies the subject as “Geo. Wm. Brown.” Photographer’s imprint to mount recto and verso. Typed biography affixed to mount verso. Provenance: From St. Wallis’s estate (modern pencil inscription to verso). 

3. Studio bust-length portrait cabinet card. Baltimore: Bendann, n.d. Photographer’s imprint to mount recto and verso. 

[Ephemera, Pamphlets, Publications, Booklets] [Art, Folk Art, Military Art, Etching, Engraving, Lithographs, Prints, Ephemera] [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] 

Conditions vary.