Studio Portraits

This box of Imperial Special Rapid plates No. 7009 contained four half-plate negatives. The number 1468 is written in black ink both on the top of the lid, inside the lid and on the bottom of the box. The images are portraits which appear to be made by a professional photographer.

Two portraits have unusual framing: there is some space above, but the feet of the sitters are cut by the frame. Focusing in studio cameras of the time would be achieved using a ground glass, and it is almost impossible to make such an obvious mistake in framing. Was it intentional? Could it be that the studio was so small that the there was no room to move the camera further away from the subjects?