Studio portrait of a professional reciter and his prompter. Sydney, circa 1885.

Albumen print photograph, cabinet card format, 162 x 108 mm (mount); recto of mount imprinted ‘Maguire / Photographer, 195 George Street, Sydney’; verso blank; both the print and mount are in excellent condition.

Although these two gentlemen are unidentified, there can be no doubt as to their professional roles. Public reciting was something of a craze in the late Victorian era, although this is the first photograph of a reciter we have come across. Davies & Stanbury (The Mechanic Eye in Australia) list Maguire at 195 George Street during 1884 only, but contemporary newspaper advertisements show he was active at this address from at least as early as May 1882, up to at least the end of 1888.