Albumen CDV. La Cygne, Kansas: Young & Umbenhour, ca early 1870s. Recto features an elaborate graphic advertising trade display; verso blank.

Highly unusual carte de visite produced to advertise a frontier photographic outfit. The intricate typographic and graphic presentation includes:

• Top rustic letterpress banner: "Young & Umbenhour / Photographer's / La Cygne, / KANSAS."

• Center illustration of a photographer beneath a dark cloth operating a tripod-mounted studio view camera with bellows and brass lens.

• Flanking promotional texts: "Pictures of all kinds made to order / Picture frames, show cards, cases in every variety" and "PICTURES COPIED to any SIZE AT THE Gallery."

• Bottom promotional text: "Examine our pictures made by the MEZZO-TINTO PRINTING PROCESS. / SATISFACTION GUARANTEED IN ALL CASES. / TERMS CASH—"

• Two inset photographic portrait vignettes at the lower left and right corners depicting the partners, Young and Umbenhour.

Standalone 19th-century photographer's advertising and trade cards from frontier railroad towns in eastern Kansas are extremely scarce. Established shortly after the founding of La Cygne in Linn County (platted around 1869–1870 along the Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad), the partnership of Young & Umbenhour created an exceptional visual record of rural photographic commerce and technical marketing on the Kansas frontier. 

[Western Americana, Kansas Photography, La Cygne Kansas, Linn County Kansas, Young and Umbenhour, Photographer Trade Card, Advertising Card, Early Photographic Studio, Studio Camera, Mezzo-Tinto Process, CDV, Carte de Visite, 19th Century Photography, Frontier Photography]

Very good condition. The card retains crisp, clear typography and sharp detail.