Carte de Visite of Annie Besant, c. 1880s.
England: c. 1880s. Carte de visite measuring 2 ⅝ x 4 inches. With later manuscript pencil markings on the verso. A few spots on the photograph, with some wear to mount. Excellent. Item #List38130
A carte de visite portrait of activist and theosophist Annie Besant (1847–1933), taken by the German portrait photographer Hayman Seleg Mendelssohn (1847–1908). Besant was a campaigner for a number of activist causes in Britain, first as a speaker and writer for the National Secular Society, where she met atheist activist Charles Bradlaugh; the two were prosecuted for breaching the Obscene Publications Act when they published Charles Knowlton’s The Fruits of Philosophy, a pamphlet about birth control methods. Besant was active in socialist and union organizing with the Fabian Society and Social Democratic Federation. Around 1980 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and became interested in theosophy; this led her to India, where she established both schools and Masonic lodges and joined the Indian National Congress. Her campaigning for Indian independence led first to her arrest and then to election as president of the INC in 1917. She continued to publish on Indian politics and theosophical topics until her death in India in 1933.
Price: $200.00