[Group of Eighteen Large Albumen Views of Bermuda by Noted Local Photographer, N.E. Lusher]

[Bermuda, 1890. Very good.. Eighteen thick albumen prints, each about 7¼ x 9 inches. On original plain cardboard mounts, all but two captioned in the negative. Moderate wear and some chipping to mounts, mild occasional wear to images. A wonderful collection of eighteen large cabinet cards produced by noted American-Bermudian photographer, Nicholas Ethelbert Lusher (1859-1932). Lusher was Bermuda's leading photographer of the late-19th century whose images remain an important contemporary record of Bermuda and her people. The imperial cabinet cards in the present collection bear no credit line or backmark, as usual with Lusher images, but some such as "Packing Onions" are credited to Lusher elsewhere, and all are clearly part of a series, given the nature of the negative captions and the uniform mounts. The images feature prominent architecture, street scenes, an elevated view of St. George's, coastal views, parks, and a healthy selection of flora and fauna. Some of the images feature local people posed for the scene, including Black laborers and other domestic workers, most notably in the aforementioned "Packing Onions" photograph. The photographs present here, in number order, are as follows:

5. Hamilton Hotel.
12. Cedar Avenue.
15. The Bridge.
19. Bermuda Cottage.
23. Cochineal Cactus.
26. Royal Palms.
27. Screw Palm.
37. Paw Paw Tree.
39. Palmettoes.
45. St. George's.
48. Packing Onions.
57. View Near Norwood.
68. Mr. W. Whitney's Residence.
73. Pitt's Bay.
91. St. George's Park, W.
92. St. George's Park, E.
[Untitled field of flowers].
[Untitled view of a large ship in the harbor].

"Pioneer photographer N.E. Lusher captured the essence of Bermuda’s people in the late 1800s. It's perhaps just as well that Nicholas Ethelbert Lusher was a photographer. He left behind an invaluable pictorial record of Bermudians at the turn of the twentieth century, yet relatively little is known about the man himself. He appears to have left no documentation or letters about his pictures and few news clippings or articles. And while he is frequently mentioned in historical Bermuda books, most notably The Bermudian's own Celebrating the First 100 Years of Photography in Bermuda, published in 1989, he has yet to receive the 'coffee table' treatment given to other, perhaps less-gifted photographers.... Perhaps because of the paucity of information available about him, any shows of his work have focused on the subjects, rather than the man himself. Even Lusher's own descendants, who include local art dealer and collector Nicholas Lusher, seems to know little about the man himself other than his photographic legacy. But this much appears to be true: N.E. was an 'adopted' Bermudian, having been born on Turks Island in 1859, the son of Captain and Mrs. James A. Lusher, and died in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in September 1932. An obituary in The Royal Gazette that called him 'a pioneer in the photographic art in Bermuda' reads: 'Unassuming to the last, Mr. Lusher took no active part in local government affairs, though he was always keen and oft-times critical observer. In an unostentatious manner, he performed many charitable works which will long endear him to many.' The same obituary records that after spending his early childhood on Turks Island, the family moved to Belfast, Maine, and it was while in Maine that the family began to make frequent trips to Bermuda. Quite how and when N.E. came to be involved in the relatively new medium of photography is not clear. Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre only published his historic manual on how to permanently reproduce a print on a metal plate 20 years before Lusher was born, and the first known photographs of Bermuda date back to the early 1850s. According to Celebrating the First 100 Years of Photography in Bermuda, Lusher was a contemporary and personal friend of George Eastman, who invented the revolutionary Kodak camera in 1888, but Lusher declined Eastman's offer of shares in his fledgling company! By 1880, Lusher had moved permanently to Bermuda and opened his own photographic business, N.E. Lusher & Sun [sic], at 42 Front Street; he also had a studio on Queen Street. The name of the company was not a misspelling but demonstrated Lusher’s sense of humour, acknowledging that solar energy was the natural source of light for his work" - "Lusher's Lens," The Bermudian, June 2, 2024.