Benjamin Disraeli, English statesman and novelist, c 1860s.

Carte de visite photograph taken by H Lenthall of Regent Street, London. Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881) was twice Prime Minister of Britain, first in 1868 and then again between 1874 and 1880. Under his Conservative government, Disraeli extended the British Empire and in 1876 he conferred on Queen Victoria (1819-1901) the title Empres of India. He was a also keen novelist. Cartes de visite were stylised photographic portraits which were collected and put into albums.