A late Victorian signature

[roydonian]

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Some time ago I posted in the thread about what books we are reading a description of the 1902 "Barnet book of Photography", and mentioned that the flyleaf has been signed by "Holly Rhodes". Today, the first name of "Holly" is normally used by women, but had traditionally been a man's name - a practice which was gradually abandoned in the first half of the 20th century. So if my reading of the signature is correct, the book's original owner was male.

However I've noticed that the first character of the signature is close in appearance to the first character of a date that is obviously March 17. So the owner of the book might have been "Molly Rhodes". In practice however, there is little difference between the way that the first and last letters of 'March' are written, so my first reading of "Holly" may be correct.

If the original owner of my book was Molly Rhodes, she must have been an example of that 'rara avis' – a female photographer from the era of tripods, heavy cameras, and glass plates. The book is entirely focussed on the use of plates, makes disparaging comments about "hand cameras", and only makes two references to what it  terms a "kodak" or 'Kodak'. So it is unlikely to have been in the possession of someone who used a rollfilm camera.

Does our membership include anyone familiar with the handwriting of the late-Victorian era who could offer an opinion on "Holly or Molly"? An internet search for "Holly Rhodes" and "Molly Rhodes" has produced nothing relevant to the world of photography.

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[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello roydonian,

Very observant of you.

It would appear that the top of the lower right portion of "H"/"M" of Holly/Molly has a "peak".

Like the top of the lower right portion of "M" of March.

And, it does not have more of a curve to it like the top of the lower right portion of the "h" in March & in Rhodes.

Best Regards,

Michael

 

Edited September 10 by Michael Geschlecht