The Physical Lincoln: Mirror explanation

From Lincolnwiki

This wiki has a policy of mirror-reversing any original image that mirror-reversed reality.

Background and explanation:

Some of the early imaging techniques, such as the daguerreotype, produced an image that was mirror-reversed compared to reality. This was tolerated at the time, because photography was still very new, and there was no alternative. Later techniques did not have this problem.

Today, there is no reason to confuse people by too-strict adherence to the actual appearance of the original image. Only photo-historians care about the actual left-right status of the original images. Everyone else cares about Lincoln and what he looked like.

Thus, it is simpler simply to present the images as Lincoln would have appeared to the photographer.

Persons with interest in the actual image as first recorded may consult the source references.

A note about the sidedness of a thumbnail is presented only when an alteration has been made, or there is reason to question the sidedness of the thumbnail. For a list of images in which this note has been applied, click the "What links here" link, in the left margin of this page.