'The Pleasures of Matrimony'

Although Michael Burr's comic scenes were only staged scenarios, mocked up with actors and props in a studio setting, they still give rare glimpses into mid-nineteenth life. This one, titled 'The Pleasures of Matrimony, or, Twelve Months after Marriage,' shows a husband and wife in bed together, with the grinning father delightedly playing with the new baby (in fact, a doll). The image is packed with all sorts of details that one would be hard pressed to find elsewhere in other photographs of the period.

Photographed by Michael Burr of Birmingham.

Entered at Stationers' Hall (an essential part of the copyrighting process) on 30 April 1863 as: 'Photograph of "Pleasures of Matrimony." Man and woman sitting up in bed, the man nursing a baby.'