(CASED IMAGES.)

PORTRAIT. Handsome half-plate daguerreotype of a man by HESLER, with delicate hand-tinting; with a modern seal, in a leather case, with the photographer's name and Chicago address stamped on the velvet lining. ca. 1855 (A HESLER PORTRAIT) PORTRAITS BY HESLER ARE VERY RARE. "Alexander Hesler (1823-1895) learned the art of daguerreotypy in Buffalo and went on to operate galleries in Madison, Wisconson and Galena, Illinois, as well as Chicago. It was Hesler's daguerreotype of Minnehaha Falls that inspired Longfellow to write the classic American poem The Song of Hiawatha. Somewhat of a technical aficionado, Hesler managed to capture a daguerreotype image of a flash of lightning. In 1851, using his own method for preparing highly sensitive plates, he traveled the Mississippi River aboard the S.S. Nominee photographing river landings from Galena to St. Paul." [SEE ILLUSTRATION].