Albumen stereoview portrait of American short story writer and poet Bret Harte best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush photographed by J. Gurney & Son, New York. The studio portrait shows Harte seated at a small round table holding an open book, dressed in formal attire with bow tie and prominent mustache and side whiskers. The mount is printed “Photographed and Published by J. Gurney & Son, 5th Ave. cor. 16th St. New York.” The photograph likely dates to the late 1860s or early 1870s based on mount style and dress. Bret Harte was an American author and poet best known for his stories of California mining camps and frontier life, including The Luck of Roaring Camp and other widely read works that helped popularize Western themes in nineteenth century literature. Portrait stereoviews such as this were produced commercially for collectors and admirers of prominent literary figures. Plain mount with printed Gurney & Son imprint along the left edge. The verso bears a pencil inscription reading “Bret Harte,” along with later pencil notations.