Lot 474: [WILKES, CHARLES. 1798-1877.]

Albumen print carte-de-visite photograph of Charles Wilkes, after Mathew Brady. [New York: E. Anthony, n.d.] Photograph mounted upside-down.

Fine image of the controversial naval officer. Wilkes was the severe Commander of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. The literary historian David Jaffe surmised that he may have been a model for Melville's Captain Ahab. During the Civil War he became more notorious as the instigator in the Trent Affair.