Cabinet Card by an Early California Photographer

Oakland, CA: By the photographer, 1878. Very good. Cabinet card; 6 x 4 1/4; small abrasion to left margin and a few minor glue spots to edges; manuscript subtitle and photographer name and address to both recto and verso; top edge possibly slightly cropped; in very good condition.A handsome photograph of a dashing young gentleman, identified as Frank Harding on verso and dated, it was taken by Murray (or Murry) Allen Dunham - an early California photographer in the mid- to late-19th century. Born in New York in 1834, Dunham moved West and worked for famous pioneer photographer William Shew in the latter's studio in San Francisco between 1862 and 1869. He would go on to co-establish the Palace Photograph Gallery in Oakland, where he would innovatively offer carriage transportation to and from his business for ladies and children. From the 1880s until his death in 1924, Dunham would establish multiple galleries in Reno, Carson City, Susanville, Hayward, Oakland, etc.