A CDV capturing an architectural model of the Stephen A. Douglas Monument in Chicago, Illinois, designed by renowned sculptor Leonard Volk ca. 1865. The lower margin of the card features integrated type reading: Douglas Monument. / L. W. Volk, Designer. The verso displays a  backmark for "J. Carbutt, Portrait & Landscape Photographer, 131 Lake St., Chicago, Ill."

An interesting and rare CDV documenting Leonard Volk's highly intricate design model for the grand tomb of the "Little Giant," Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas, immortalized as Lincoln's monumental pre-war debating rival and the leader of the Northern Democratic party, died suddenly in June 1861. His complex tomb design features a soaring, columnar column capped by a standing statue of Douglas, anchored by a multi-tiered neoclassical mausoleum base surrounded by allegorical figures.

Following Douglas's death, the Douglas Monument Association commissioned his close friend Volk - the same man who captured Abraham Lincoln's definitive 1860 life mask and hands - to design a spectacular monumental tomb on the Chicago lakefront. To drum up public enthusiasm and secure funding to build the massive stone structure, Volk partnered with John Carbutt, one of Chicago's most celebrated photographers, to document his scale model in a collectable photograph. Finding an immaculate, un-trimmed specimen is a rare occurrence - we find scant few examples that have ever been sold on the open market. 

Very good. The print still presents exceptional tone with outstanding contrast and great clarity. The mount is clean and untrimmed.