Blank greetings card with envelope featuring:

Alfred, Lord Tennyson NPG x8005

© National Portrait Gallery, London

by James Mudd

This is one of the finest early photographs of the poet. It was given wide currency through its publication on 15 April 1861 by the firm of Cundall & Co. Tennyson began to grow his beard in 1857 and never shaved again. The fashion, shared by many of his contemporaries, seems to have been influenced by soldiers returning from the Crimean War (1853-6), where harsh conditions prevented shaving. The same conflict inspired one of his most famous poems, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1855).

Card size: 125mm x 175mm

Images are printed in their original proportions, within a white border.