Historical Selfies Taken Long Before Selfies Were Even A Thing

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1 of 25American photographer Robert Cornelius in the first-ever photographic portrait of a human, self- or otherwise, 1839.Wikimedia Commons/Robert Cornelius 2 of 25Norwegian photographer and engineer Kristian Berge takes a mirror selfie, 1918. Wikimedia Commons/Kristian Berge 3 of 25Unidentified woman taking a mirror selfie with a box camera, 1900.Wikimedia Commons 4 of 25Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, pilot of the Gemini-12, takes a selfie in space, 1966. Wikimedia Commons/Buzz Aldrin 5 of 25Unknown woman takes a mirror selfie with a box camera, 1942.Wikimedia Commons 6 of 25American photographer Robert Cornelius in his second-ever selfie, 1843.Wikimedia Commons/Robert Cornelius 7 of 25American photographer and telescope manufacturer Henry Fitz, Jr. in a daguerreotype selfie, 1839. Wikimedia Commons/Henry Fitz, Jr. 8 of 25Daguerreotype selfie of Czech photographer M. V. Lobethal, 1846.Wikimedia Commons/M. V. Lobethal 9 of 25Australian modernist painter Albert Tucker takes a mirror selfie with wife and fellow artist Joy Hester, 1939. Wikimedia Commons/Albert Tucker 10 of 25Polish surrealist painter, photographer, and sculptor Zdzisław Beksiński takes a prism selfie, 1956-57.Wikimedia Commons/Zdzisław Beksiński 11 of 25American photographer Carol Highsmith takes a selfie in a broken mirror during the restoration of the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., between 1980 and 1990.Wikimedia Commons/Carol Highsmith 12 of 25Russian photographer Eleazar Langman takes a kettle selfie, 1935.Wikimedia Commons/Eleazar Langman 13 of 25Selfie of Basque author and biographer Juan San Martín, 1976.Wikimedia Commons/Juan San Martin 14 of 25Polish photographer Zbigniew Zugaj takes a mirror selfie, date unknown.Wikimedia Commons/Zbigniew Zugaj 15 of 25Selfie of American artist and arts patron Julia Christiansen Hoffman, co-founder of the Arts and Crafts Society of Portland, 1885.Wikimedia Commons/Julia Christiansen Hoffman 16 of 25Selfie of Polish photojournalist Julia Pirotte, best known for documenting World War II, date unknown.Wikimedia Commons/Julia Pirotte 17 of 25Finnish photographer Kari Hakli takes a mirror selfie, 1971.Wikimedia Commons/Kari Hakli 18 of 25Selfie of French photographer and stained-glass window artist Lucien Bégule, between 1915 and 1920.Wikimedia Commons/Lucien Bégule 19 of 25French painter and photographer Michel Saloff-Coste takes a mirror selfie, 1980s.Wikimedia Commons/Michel Saloff-Coste 20 of 25German photographer Roger Rössing takes a mirror selfie as an unknown man looks on, 1947.Wikimedia Commons/Roger Rössing 21 of 25Dutch painter, architect, designer, and writer Theo van Doesburg takes a selfie with his wife Nelly in the background, Paris, 1921.Wikimedia Commons/Theo van Doesburg 22 of 25Australian soldier and pilot Thomas Baker takes a dresser mirror selfie, 1917.Wikimedia Commons/Thomas Baker 23 of 25Unidentified woman takes a mirror selfie, 1938.Wikimedia Commons 24 of 25Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, best known for his LIFE magazine covers, takes a selfie in Ottawa, 1938.Wikimedia Commons/Yousuf Karsh 25 of 25Like this gallery?Share it:

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Selfies weren’t pioneered by the MySpace generation, Generation X, the Greatest Generation – or any generation, in fact – this side of the Civil War.

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31 Great Travel Selfies That Prove The Self-Portrait Isn’t Always Obnoxious

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44 Colorized Portraits That Reveal Historical Figures As They Truly Were

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44 Colorized Portraits That Reveal Historical Figures As They Truly Were

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1 of 25American photographer Robert Cornelius in the first-ever photographic portrait of a human, self- or otherwise, 1839.Wikimedia Commons/Robert Cornelius

2 of 25Norwegian photographer and engineer Kristian Berge takes a mirror selfie, 1918. Wikimedia Commons/Kristian Berge

3 of 25Unidentified woman taking a mirror selfie with a box camera, 1900.Wikimedia Commons

4 of 25Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, pilot of the Gemini-12, takes a selfie in space, 1966. Wikimedia Commons/Buzz Aldrin

5 of 25Unknown woman takes a mirror selfie with a box camera, 1942.Wikimedia Commons

6 of 25American photographer Robert Cornelius in his second-ever selfie, 1843.Wikimedia Commons/Robert Cornelius

7 of 25American photographer and telescope manufacturer Henry Fitz, Jr. in a daguerreotype selfie, 1839. Wikimedia Commons/Henry Fitz, Jr.

8 of 25Daguerreotype selfie of Czech photographer M. V. Lobethal, 1846.Wikimedia Commons/M. V. Lobethal

9 of 25Australian modernist painter Albert Tucker takes a mirror selfie with wife and fellow artist Joy Hester, 1939. Wikimedia Commons/Albert Tucker

10 of 25Polish surrealist painter, photographer, and sculptor Zdzisław Beksiński takes a prism selfie, 1956-57.Wikimedia Commons/Zdzisław Beksiński

11 of 25American photographer Carol Highsmith takes a selfie in a broken mirror during the restoration of the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., between 1980 and 1990.Wikimedia Commons/Carol Highsmith

12 of 25Russian photographer Eleazar Langman takes a kettle selfie, 1935.Wikimedia Commons/Eleazar Langman

13 of 25Selfie of Basque author and biographer Juan San Martín, 1976.Wikimedia Commons/Juan San Martin

14 of 25Polish photographer Zbigniew Zugaj takes a mirror selfie, date unknown.Wikimedia Commons/Zbigniew Zugaj

15 of 25Selfie of American artist and arts patron Julia Christiansen Hoffman, co-founder of the Arts and Crafts Society of Portland, 1885.Wikimedia Commons/Julia Christiansen Hoffman

16 of 25Selfie of Polish photojournalist Julia Pirotte, best known for documenting World War II, date unknown.Wikimedia Commons/Julia Pirotte

17 of 25Finnish photographer Kari Hakli takes a mirror selfie, 1971.Wikimedia Commons/Kari Hakli

18 of 25Selfie of French photographer and stained-glass window artist Lucien Bégule, between 1915 and 1920.Wikimedia Commons/Lucien Bégule

19 of 25French painter and photographer Michel Saloff-Coste takes a mirror selfie, 1980s.Wikimedia Commons/Michel Saloff-Coste

20 of 25German photographer Roger Rössing takes a mirror selfie as an unknown man looks on, 1947.Wikimedia Commons/Roger Rössing

21 of 25Dutch painter, architect, designer, and writer Theo van Doesburg takes a selfie with his wife Nelly in the background, Paris, 1921.Wikimedia Commons/Theo van Doesburg

22 of 25Australian soldier and pilot Thomas Baker takes a dresser mirror selfie, 1917.Wikimedia Commons/Thomas Baker

23 of 25Unidentified woman takes a mirror selfie, 1938.Wikimedia Commons

24 of 25Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, best known for his LIFE magazine covers, takes a selfie in Ottawa, 1938.Wikimedia Commons/Yousuf Karsh

25 of 25Like this gallery?Share it:

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Historical Selfies Taken Long Before Selfies Were Even A Thing

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Just over a decade after Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took history’s first-ever photograph in 1826 or 1827, American photographer Robert Cornelius turned the lens upon himself, creating the first-ever selfie, long before the term had even been coined.

A deluge of selfies have followed in the ensuing centuries — but more of that sum was taken pre-2000 than you might think.

Unsurprisingly, many of these proto-selfies in the gallery above were taken not by amateur photographers pouting and posing in front of mirrors, but by professional photographers practicing their craft — and testing its boundaries — in their studios.

Still other early selfies were born out of necessity, such as astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s from 1966, taken high above the blue marble of Earth, with co-pilot James A. Lovell the only other human within hundreds of miles.

That photo joins many others in the above gallery of proto-selfies ending in 1990 and starting with Cornelius all the way back in 1839. The inaugural year saw Cornelius taking the world’s first portrait — self- or otherwise — of a human being, a monumental artistic and technical achievement.

Later, we’re treated to decades of photographers using mirrors and other reflective surfaces to cleverly capture themselves capturing themselves — a necessity before handheld cameras made the casual self-portrait a simple and thus all-the-more tempting endeavor.

At the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find an amateur self-snapshot of Basque author and biographer Juan San Martín from 1976 that is far closer to the selfies of the 21st century, taken seemingly on a whim, with little concern for the artistic merits of the end result.

Clicking through these images is proof that ease-of-use may have quickened the narcissistic impulse in photographers, both amateur and professional, but it certainly didn’t create it.

Next, have a look at what may very well be the world’s first selfie ever. Then, see how many selfie-related deaths have occurred since just 2014.