The original album of photographs

On the 15th of March, 1875, Duchenne (who was to die on the 17th of September of that year) presented us with the most precious evidence of his research on the Expression of the Emotions – his personal photograph album. Its dedication reads:

The dark green bound volume measures 31 by 44 cm. In gold capital letters as if it were a published book, the title is shown as “Mécanisme de la Physionomie Humaine par le Docteur Duchenne (de Boulogne). Album composé de 74 figures photographiées.”

But there are only 58 photographs of various sizes pasted into the white pages of this album. The order differs little in the first part from that of the Album, but gradually becomes more and more disordered. The first photographs are accompanied by a commentary that is not in Duchenne's hand. These notes soon become brief and then disappear completely. Forty-two of the photographic prints are rectangular and measure on average 17 cm in width by 23 cm in height and therefore correspond without doubt to the 18 × 24 cm negatives. Thirteen prints are oval-shaped enlargements measuring 28.5 by 20.5 cm, and the three other prints are of various shapes and subjects.