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Moon Postcards

The Moon in some of the first photographs taken of it, from 1865 and 1869.

Five plates from A. Neyt’s Atlas photographique de la lune (Ghent, 1869), twelve photographs of the Moon through a telescope mounted on card, and two of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd’s photographs taken in New York in 1865. Each prints whole, the atlas plates on their cream card mounts. “Print postcard” makes real postcards: the picture on one side and a postcard back on the other, with what the picture shows, who made it and where it is kept, and room for a message, an address and a stamp. More about the Moon →

Half Moon by A. Neyt
Half Moon A. Neyt, 1869 Ghent University Library The Moon about half lit, its craters sharpest along the edge of the shadow, photographed through a telescope in Ghent for the Atlas photographique de la lune (1869). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Gibbous Moon by A. Neyt
Gibbous Moon A. Neyt, 1869 Ghent University Library The Moon more than half lit, the dark seas spread across its face, photographed through a telescope in Ghent for the Atlas photographique de la lune (1869). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Nearly Full by A. Neyt
Nearly Full A. Neyt, 1869 Ghent University Library The Moon nearly full, a thin shadow still along one edge, photographed through a telescope in Ghent for the Atlas photographique de la lune (1869). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Full Moon by A. Neyt
Full Moon A. Neyt, 1869 Ghent University Library The full Moon, its dark seas and bright rays of craters all in view, photographed through a telescope in Ghent for the Atlas photographique de la lune (1869). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Craters, Close Up by A. Neyt
Craters, Close Up A. Neyt, 1869 Ghent University Library An enlarged part of the Moon’s surface crowded with craters, photographed through a telescope in Ghent for the Atlas photographique de la lune (1869). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Moon, March 8, 1865 by Lewis Morris Rutherfurd
The Moon, March 8, 1865 Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, 1865 ETH Library, Zürich The Moon photographed by Lewis Morris Rutherfurd in New York on March 8, 1865, one of the sharpest Moon photographs of its time. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Moon, March 4, 1865 by Lewis Morris Rutherfurd
The Moon, March 4, 1865 Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, 1865 George Eastman Museum A golden-toned print of the Moon photographed by Lewis Morris Rutherfurd in New York on March 4, 1865. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Where the pictures come from

All are in the public domain in the United States.