03 December 2010

Recognize this famous man, photographed age 15 ?

His beltbuckle offers a clue.  Answer at your choice of the links.

Found at Varia, via A Journey Round My Skull's tumblr.

Addendum Dec 4: The answer from Fester was so thorough that it seems appropriate to add it above the fold:
That is Sam Clemens back when he was a printer's devil.
That is not a buckle with his name on it. That is a compositor's block with three pieces of type on it. Looks to be about 60 to 72 point type.

Looking at loose type face on, the letters are backwards. However, this photo is a tintype which is a mirror image of the subject. Sam set the letters in order so they appeared right way around on the photo.  Clever lad.

7 comments:

  1. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain :)
    Ah, you can tell he already had an attitude even at 15! Great guy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jerry in and around DallasDecember 3, 2010 at 1:41 PM

    Without looking at the comments or the links, I can tell it's the young Samuel Clemens, before his Mark Twain phase.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm proud to say he's a relative of mine. A distant one, but a realtive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is Sam Clemens back when he was a printer's devil.
    That is not a buckle with his name on it. That is a compositor's block with three pieces of type on it. Looks to be about 60 to 72 point type.

    Looking at loose type face on, the letters are backwards. However, this photo is a tintype which is a mirror image of the subject. Sam set the letters in order so they appeared right way around on the photo.
    Clever lad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you, Fester. I've added your information to the post!

    stan

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...