Nice cabinet card photo of an attractive older lady  done by J D Merritt of Washington D.C. JD Merritt was born in New York in 1835.  In 1860 he was a daguerreotype artist in Poughkeepsie.  Then he moved to Portsmouth Ohio where he continued in the photography business and some time before 1880 he came back east and apparently had studios in Baltimore and in Washington D.C.  Two small but interesting articles from the Baltimore Sun will be sent with the photo.  He was, unlike many at the time, apparently a career photographer of some considerable skill.  Card is 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 and will be mailed in a regular envelope.