For those unacquainted with Joan L. Severa's work, My Likeness Taken can be initially somewhat deceptive; the book contains a gallery of daguerreotypes from 1840 to 1860, yet its main emphasis is not on the technicalities of daguerreotypy. Extending Severa's research for Dressed for the Photographer, My Likeness Taken looks at daguerreotypes as a means to document the changing fashions of the middle decades of the nineteenth century. The book treats its reader/viewer to an ample range of daguerreotype portraits in their various formats (i.e. quarter plates, half plates, full plates). The subjects of these portraits – daguerreotyped individually, in couples, or in groups – allow us a glimpse of the wide spectrum of nineteenth-century society. These pictures confirm that daguerreotypes accommodated, simultaneously, “the informal portrait of the common man” and the more ostentatious portraits of those in the lap of luxury. Men and women, boys and girls of all ages, social background, and racial composition are represented in this carefully selected gallery. Portraits with female sitters prevail, and it is also noticeable that more attention is paid to the description of female sitters than to male ones. Yet we can hardly blame Severa for replicating what was a bias in the nineteenth century: women's beauty, purity, and fashionable state were linked to very elaborate outfits.

Severa comments carefully on each of the daguerreotypes as she dates each portrait according to the evidence provided by the items of clothing wore by the sitter(s), occasionally making humble and honest guesses. Her critical apparatus is also livelily enhanced with references to magazines contemporary to the portraits that included fashion plates and commentary (i.e. Godey's, Lady's Book, Peterson's Magazines). The engaging descriptions of the daguerreotypes, with their insights into the daguerreotypist's skills, and into the sitters' attire, their attitude and possible background and personality, give the book a very humane tone, reconstructing the (hi)story behind the pictures in a semi-formal parlance that eases the way into the more technical details for the non-expert reader. For its nature, plentiful evidence, and excellent layout, the book will appeal to fashion and daguerreotype experts as well as to those engaged in sociocultural research. A foreword by Matthew R. Isenburg on the art of the daguerreotype and a glossary of fashion-related terms also ensure that the work caters for a wider audience, especially for those curious readers that have an interest in visual cultures.