Bizarre 19th-century Humour

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Photographers in the late 1800s had a macabre sense of humour, as seen in this series of trick pictures dating back to the Victorian Age.

In a photo montage from the George Eastman House Collection, manipulated snapshots include a Albumen print of a decapitated man holding his head and butcher knife dripping with blood, an attack scene of an aggressor dressed in a suit of armour and a man's face superimposed on a mummy, gazing squarely ahead at onlookers.

The picture collection, dated circa 1875, shows photographers experimenting with the new technique in their work.

The special effect, known as 'trick photography,' was developed in 1856 by the Swedish-born photographer Oscar Rejlander. He compiled a series of negatives to make-up the renowned image, The Two Ways of Life.

A dream of Christmas: Dated 1897 by Strohmeyer & Wyman

You ought to see the other fellow: A pup shows his wounds in this print dated 1885

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