En Face

The only approved picture of Emily Dickinson is a daguerreotype her sister would have given to one Austin Baxter Keep in 1890s. It now belongs with Emily Dickinson collections at Amherst College.

I do not like ■→this daguerreotype simply as a negligent image of a human being. A considerable proportion of the poet’s head would be missing, on shoulders unnaturally narrow, if to supplement the line of the hair. Lip asymmetry might imply a stroke, or another set of lips imposed on a retouched jaw. Having had a closer look, it would not be corrective surgery, to ask a plastic surgeon to make one look the one.

The daguerreotype shows a person quite dissimilar, to compare noses and eyes in the Dickinson family. I have now done more or less what I wanted to do about the daguerreotype — on a picture of Edward Dickinson, the father: Dragan on CMYK layer B, black. Features have become emphasized.

Next, we may compare Ms. Lavinia Dickinson, the poet’s sister, in a picture by MyHeritage. Ms. Lavinia would be the child, the woman — Mrs. Norcross-Dickison, the mother? It remains to ponder when photography got invented, or to continue with the features. I choose the latter. Right next, we may compare the brother, Austin, and Ms. Lavinia in an image acknowledged by Amherst College.

The daguerreotype for Emily Dickinson does stand out. Of a caring sister, to give the only picture away would have been extremely strange (maybe except ■→suspicion of “witchcraft”). I had my first careful look and understood it was disposed of as faulty, and daguerreotypes overall must have brought plenty of customer complaints. ■→Wikipedia notes, new processes were developed for “more readily viewable images”, and the word “acceptable” matches with the adjective “ready”.

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