Walt Whitman by V.W. Horton of J. Gurney and Son, 1871

Stereographs consist of two nearly identical photographs, taken with a special camera that has lenses positioned to “see double,” just as human eyes do, so that the two images, when placed in a stereoscope, create a single three-dimensional image (just as human eyes do). What we see in this stereograph, then, is a left-eye view of Whitman’s face and a right-eye view (two photos taken at the same instant from slightly different angles). Stereoscopes were invented before photography (the original ones used drawn landscapes), but they increased in popularity when photographers using stereographic cameras began producing stereo cards, and when standardized and handheld stereoscopes became widely available in the mid-nineteenth century. The left-eye view in this stereoscope of Whitman was issued as a single photograph by Gurney.

For more information on J. Gurney and Son, see "Notes on Whitman's Photographers."