Portrait of Mr. Benedict, c.1870, Carte de visite, 105×65 mm, Photographer – Wiseman 9, Southampton, PhotoMuse Collection, 2018, Gift of Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal, Source – Herbert Ascherman Collection.

The carte de visite (visiting card), abbreviated CdV, was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. Each photograph was the size of a visiting card, and such photograph cards were commonly traded among friends and visitors in the 1860s.