Laterally Inverted

© Albert Kaplan 2012

Kaplan Collection	Known Images
	Complements of Amherst College Archives & Special Collections­

“One picture is worth ten thousand words.”

 

Chinese Proverb

Post-Script
October 28, 2017

It is mystifying if not miraculous that my sister, Bertha, told me, on the telephone, (she in Arizona, I in Nevada), that she saw something or read something about Emily Dickinson, and she suggested that perhaps I would be able to find a daguerreotype of this lady! After speaking with Bertha I probably went to Google and typed in “Emily Dickinson” of whom I knew practically nothing. Was it that very day that I acquired the daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson? I do not remember. Maybe the next day? Maybe three days later? I do not have a clue. I am reminded of what I have said on several occasions, that I had nothing to do with acquiring the Lincoln daguerreotype, that G-d placed it in my hand. So I say here, that I had nothing to do with acquiring the daguerreotype of Emily. It was simply a miracle.

In this image we see an older Emily. Two hand surgeons I consulted reported identically that Emily suffered from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, a worsening condition. At a certain point, she was probably unable to walk.

Post-Script
August 26, 2021

Sickly and weak, her bones literally shriveling up, I am curious about her diet, for therein likely rest the reasons for the tragedy of her physical body-self. Her bones were very fragile. In her last stage, she was unable to move – even in bed

Such unnatural illness may have a dietary foundation. If her family kept chickens or owned a butcher shop, we will have the answer.

Surely there was no fresh, raw fruit in her diet.

I envision eggs galore. I think that Emily Dickinson ate chickens’ eggs. That is my guess. It is highly likely that her fleshfood/ovo/lacto diet was the direct cause of her sickly condition.