Antedating of "self-portrait"

[Laurence Horn]

Speaking of which: While "selfie" strikes me as too established before Jan 2013 to qualify as a strong contender for our own WOTY categories, there's always "drelfie", which is at least more recent.  And maybe a candidate for "least likely to succeed", although alas not for "most unnecessary"…

LH

On Nov 20, 2013, at 8:09 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:

> Robert Cornelius’ self-portrait: The First Ever “Selfie” (1839)
> http://publicdomainreview.org/2013/11/19/robert-cornelius-self-portrait-the-first-ever-selfie-1839/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Today the Oxford Dictionaries announced their word of the year for
> 2013 to be “selfie”, which they define as “a photograph that one has
> taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and
> uploaded to a social media website.” Although it’s current rampant
> incarnation is quite recent, the “selfie” is far from being a strictly
> modern phenomenon. Indeed, the photographic self-portrait is
> surprisingly common in the very early days of photography exploration
> and invention, when it was often more convenient for the experimenting
> photographer to act as model as well. In fact, the picture considered
> by many to be the first photographic portrait ever taken was a
> “selfie”. The image in question was taken in 1839 by an amateur
> chemist and photography enthusiast from Philadelphia named Robert
> Cornelius.
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> Hat tip @KatharineTace and @appendixjournal
> https://twitter.com/appendixjournal/status/403275205121810433/photo/1
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 9:11 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "self-portrait"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 1815, as a self-description
>>
>> "For a catalogue of private virtues, if we may believe you, sir Harry...though it must be admitted you are rather contradictory in your self-portrait."
>> The bachelor's journal: inscribed (without permission) to the girls of England
>>
>> Vol. 1. pp. 94-95, London: Printed at the Minerva-Press for A. K. Newman and Co., 1815. 252 pp. [NCCO]
>>
>> Stephen Goranson
>> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Hugo [hugovk at GMAIL.COM]
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 8:35 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of "self-portrait"
>>
>> "self-portrait" (OED: 1831)
>>
>> Seeing as "selfie" is Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year and I already provided the earliest 2002 quotation, let's look at "self-portrait". :)
>>
>> ---
>>
>> November 1821, letter in The Country constitutional guardian and literary magazine, Vol. 1, published 1822, "Sir Robert Wilson, And His Correspondence", page 44:
>>
>> [Begin]
>> Now, under such circumstances, a reasonable man, and a man so conscious of his innocence, so proud of his reputation, and such a good self-portrait painter too, would surely have referred the cause of grievance to the source from whence it arose--but no : " To be backed by the electors of Southwark was a good bolster."
>> [End]
>>
>> Also! See the same page!!!! for extreme use of exclamation marks!!!!!!!
>>
>> http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RYAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA44&dq=%22self-portrait%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_VaLUuHPCaqC4AT-14GgBQ&redir_esc=y#v=thumbnail&q=%22self-portrait%22%20&f=false
>>
>> ---
>>
>> Hugo
>>
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