Svolvaer, Lofoten.
Image: Library of Congress
These postcards of the mountains, fjords, glaciers and towns of late 19th Century Norway were created by the Detroit Publishing Company using the Photochrom process.
Invented in the 1880s by an employee of a Swiss printing company, Photochrom was a painstaking and time-consuming technique for applying color to black-and-white images.
The process involved coating a tablet of lithographic limestone with a light-sensitive emulsion, then exposing it to sunlight through a photographic negative.
This caused the emulsion to harden in proportion to the tones of the negative, creating a fixed lithographic image on the stone.
For each tint to be used in the final color image, an additional litho stone was prepared. A dozen or more could be required for a single postcard.
The result: lavishly colored images that far outshone traditional hand-coloring, and were truly impressive at a time when real color photography was still in the first stages of development.
The Seven Sisters, Geiranger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Gols Church, with Hovenstuen and Staburet, Christiania.
Image: Library of Congress
Panorama from St. Hanshaugen, Christiania.
Image: Library of Congress
Buarbreen Glacier, Odda, Hardanger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Kongen og Dronningen, Bispen.
Image: Library of Congress
A Lapp family.
Image: Library of Congress
The "Nancy Grey" with a whale at Skaaro.
Image: Library of Congress
Smeerenburg, Spitzbergen.
Image: Library of Congress
Fish market, Bergen.
Image: Library of Congress
Hardanger girl.
IMage: Library of Congress
Grotto in Suphellebrae, Sognefjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Hofsfossen with Hønefoss, Ringerike.
Image: Library of Congress
Nordlandsbåt, Nordland.
Image: Library of Congress
The Seven Sisters, Nordland.
Image: Library of Congress
Kjenndalsbreen, Nordfjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Raftsund, Lofoten, Digermulen.
Image: Library of Congress
Trollfjord, Raftsund, Lofoten.
Image: Library of Congress
Bergen.
Image: Library of Congress
Vaagakallen, Kabelvaag.
Image: Library of Congress
On the road to Stalheim.
Image: Library of Congress
Geiranger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Nærøydalen and Stalheim Hotel.
Image: Library of Congress
Tvinde Waterfall and hotel.
Image: Library of Congress
Skjeggedalsfos, Odda, Hardanger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Odda, Hardanger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Folgefond Glacier, Hardanger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Bondhus glacier and lake, Hardanger Fjord.
Image: Library of Congress
Åalesund.
Image: Library of Congress
Nærøydalen.
Image: Library of Congress
Tvindefossen.
IMage: Library of Congress
Framnāes Hotel and lake.
Image: Library of Congress
The midnight sun at Bell Sound.
Image: Library of Congress
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