American author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is portrayed in a commanding close bust portrait by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, operating at 110 & 108 Regent Street and 54 Cheapside, London, with the poet's own signature "Henry W. Longfellow" inscribed in bold flowing script directly on the front of the mount below the image. The albumen print presents Longfellow in his final years, his long white hair swept back in loose waves, his full white beard spreading broadly across his chest, and his deep-set eyes directed with striking intensity toward the camera. The London Stereoscopic Company held the royal designation of Photographers to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and produced this portrait under copyright, as noted on the front mount.

Longfellow wears a dark frock coat and waistcoat over a white shirt, a watch chain visible at his chest, the tight bust framing placing full emphasis on the force of his aged face and the dramatic contrast of his white hair against the dark clothing and neutral graduated backdrop. The expression is serious and unguarded, lending the portrait an intimacy that distinguishes it from more formally composed studio likenesses.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the most celebrated American poet of the nineteenth century, author of The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, Paul Revere's Ride, and The Courtship of Miles Standish. He was the first American honored with a bust in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey, and his transatlantic fame made him a sought-after subject for major photographic studios on both sides of the Atlantic.

The reverse bears the elaborate green-printed London Stereoscopic Company imprint with city medallions for Berlin, London, Dublin, and New York, a penciled notation reading "Autographed," and dealer code "10/09/15 / COBAIZ / Eb."