sinister

Oh dear - leaving evidence like that! No drink involved either.. The photograph is unreal - the mans face looks like the image could have been taken yesterday.

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

AMAZING one :)

Such a classic image.

disturbing and yet amusing. One can only wonder what was going on here.

wow this is so good

Agreed, the first word I thought of was disturbing too, although it's an amazing photo too. :)