barth

Barbara Antonie Barth, aka Antonie von Bartolf (1871-1956), second wife of Duke Ludwig Wilhelm of Bavaria; their divorce was news in 1913.

I started a Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Antonie_Barth

Looks like there is a date on this one right above her name. It's very faint: 8/22/13 (backwards) So August 22nd, 1913

The book he is holding says "THE WORLD". I found one interesting lead:--a bibliographic entry on amazon.com and bookfinder.com: A general history of the world: Briefly sketched, upon scriptural principles (Unknown Binding) by Christian Gottlob Barth (1799-1862), a German evangelist--see German Wikipedia. A relative? This could be a coincidence. Edit. Alternative theory--the period at the end of the name indicates an abbreviation, so this is Louis Bartholomew. I see a reference to an atlas from the early 20th century edited by a J.G. Bartholomew, but it appears to be John. Oh well, that looked promising.

He looks a bit posh to be J Louis Barth painter and decorator.

I think this might be the Louis Barth who was the subject of a New York Times article published on December 10, 1911: "LONDON, Nov. 29. -- The most remarkable autograph album in existence is the property of Louis Barth of Arad, Hungary. Herr Barth, who is a Government official, has made the completion of the album a lifework. He wants it to contain the signature of every celebrity of the world, and he has gone a long way toward accomplishing his object." I'd surmise that the book he's holding in the photo is his autograph album. (PDF of the whole Times article is available at the link).

If i had not read the above comments i would have thought him to be a Fictional character..Perry Mason