A very rare autographed carte de visite, issued without production attribution, but sometime either briefly before or during the American Civil War. Boldly autographed in the lower margin. We can trace no other examples.

Reverend Alfred Cookman [1828-1871] was well-known as a Methodist-Holiness camp-meeting preacher and a very early and influential Methodist abolitionist. In addition to his preaching, he actively helped found a school for freed blacks in Florida, which was later named after him. The Cookman Institute is today known as Bethune Cookman University, having merged with Mary McLeod Bethune's school for black girls.

Cookman was born in Columbia, PA in 1828, educated at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA and worked as a Methodist minister in various parts of the country, but eventually landed in Philadelphia, where he was a vocal supporter of President Lincoln for his opposition to slavery. He began preaching vocally as an abolitionist and tied his holiness message directly to the abolitionist. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Christian Commission and became Chaplain to the Army of the Potomac.

After the war, he worked to ensure full citizenship rights for freed slaves and adopted causes that would provide educational opportunities for them.

His published works include Familiar Talks on the Subject of the Higher Christian Life; Familiar Hymns for Social Meetings; and a variety of sermons on holiness published in the Holiness Miscellany; Stars of Holiness; etc.