The Earliest ‘Selfies’: 22 Amazing Self-Portraits Taken From the 19th Century

Long before front-facing smartphone cameras and selfie sticks abounded—when cameras were a new and expensive commodity—human beings already had the urge to take self portraits. This collection of 22 early selfies is about as far away as you can get from modern-day selfies—no duck faces, bunny ears or photobombers.

The first known selfie was created when American photography pioneer Robert Cornelius created a daguerreotype of himself way back at the dawn of photography in 1839.

Le Noyé (The Drowned Man), about October 18, 1840, Hippolyte Bayard.

Self-Portrait in the Garden, June 1845, Hippolyte Bayard.

M.V. Lobethal’s daguerreotype selfie, 1846.

Self-Portrait in the Garden, 1847, Hippolyte Bayard.

Self-Portrait in the Garden, about 1845–1849, Hippolyte Bayard.

British chemist Sir William Henry Perkin took this photo of himself at age 14, 1852.

This self-photograph of Oscar Rejlander taken in the 1850s.

Photo by Nadar, Self-Portrait in Costume, ca. 1862–64.

Seneca Ray Stoddard, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Larry J. West — ca. 1870. Self-portrait.

Globe reflection in Glen’s Falls New York, ca. 1870s.

Double self-portrait by Rejlander, 1872.

Photo of Maharaja Birchandra, King of Tripura with his queen Maharani Manamohini taken by the king himself, 1880.

Self portrait of the engineer Washington Teasdale in front of Kirkstall Abbey in 1883.

A selfie by San Francisco photographer Isaiah W. Taber, 1885.

Here’s Russian photographer Alexei Kuznetsov’s self-portrait, using a mirror ball in a greenhouse, ca. 1885.

German photo studio team in an old group selfie, 1890.

Louis Boutan and the world’s first underwater ‘selfie,’ 1893.

Belgian painter Henri Evenepoel took a selfie, 1898.

Self-Portrait by Edward Steichen, Milwaukee, 1898.

Unknown woman with her Kodet camera, ca. 1880s.

Nasseredin Shah (King of Iran) took a selfie with his concubines, ca. 1800s.