These photos dating back to the late 1800s were collected by Connecticut College art history and anthrolopology professor Christopher B. Steiner, and were created using a photo-multigraph or 'trick mirror' technique. This photo-multigraph was invented by James B. Shaw in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the early 1890s. It is created by placing the sitter between two mirrors which are angled to produce four reflections of the subject. As it exposed a person's face from every angle, the photo-multigraph was touted as a system which would enable the person to see themselves as others see them.
By the 1920s this piece of equipment was perceived to be a common novelty attraction, particularly at the seaside, the arcade and broadwalk photo studios throughout America and Europe. In fact, many onlookers, would often part with a dollar and a half, or two dollars for a half dozen of these unusual five-in-one portraits. As impressive as this technology was for it's time, it had all but vanished by the 1950s. What is left are thousands of multi-photographs commissioned by portrait-sitters, see some of these intriguing images below:
