Early Photographers

PLEASE NOTE: The links below will take you out of the EdinPhoto web site
BUT you can click on the 'back' button until you return to this page

1. 19th Century Ayrshire Photographers - Rob Close

This is part of Rob Close's Ayrshire History site.

2. Alexander Wilson's Photographic Collection

Alexander Wilson, a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years, took many photographs. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923. Many of his photos are of Dundee, some are of Edinburgh.

Key 'Edinburgh' into the search field on this site to find over 30 photos of Edinburgh..

Key 'Forth Bridge' into the search field on this site to find 13 photos of the Forth Rail Bridge under construction.

[with acknowledgement to Phil Wilson, Aberdeen, for telling me about this web site]

3. Andrew Young - Burntisland photographer, artist, historian

This Burntisland Online website created by Ian Somerville includes information on the photographer Andrew Young who assisted John Patrick before John Patrick became an Edinburgh professional photographer.

4. Cartes de Visite

The author of the Cartes de Visite web site web site has built up an extensive collection and knowledge of images by Victorian photographers.

The site covers UK and Irish photographers (1840-1940). It has images of famous people, portraits, subjects and views. Images from the author's collection can be made available for commercial, educational or personal use. Charges are made for these services.

The author also buys and sells old photographs and ephemera. He recently launched a second web site, designed particularly for family history researchers. The site is titled Cartes de Visite.

5. Charles Piazzi Smyth University of Edinburgh Geography Dept.

Charles Piazzi Smyth was an early Edinburgh photographer. He was Astronomer Royal For Scotland.

6. Clapperton's Daylight Photographic Studio - Selkirk

This site gives contact details and normal opening times for Clapperton's Daylight Studio, the original studio built in 1867 for the Scottish Borders photographer, Robert Clapperton.

This studio, complete with small darkroom stands in the back garden of a house in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. The studio is now used by the fourth generation of the same family. It is open to the public for a small admission charge, for short periods in the summer months or by appointment

7. Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot

Professor Larry J Schaaf of Baltimore, Maryland, USA and his team at Glasgow University have undertaken the mammoth task of transcribing all the known William Henry Fox Talbot correspondence - almost 10,000 letters - and making the results available in a web site that is informative and easy to use.

The site includes useful background notes and bibliography. It has a search facility that makes the information in Talbot's letters very accessible. This site should prove to be a valuable resource for further research.

This began as a project at Glasgow University, but has now (August 2006) taken on a new lease of life in Leicester. About 600 letters have been updated and about 50 new ones added.

8. Edinburgh Calotype Album

This 5-minute film, published on YouTube in June 2013, is the first of three, all being published by Edinburgh City Libraries, introducing some of the early photography in their collection, and giving links to how further details can be found on their Capital Collections web site.

This film gives a brief introduction to some of the Edinburgh photography of the early-1840s. It covers

- An Edinburgh Calotype Albums

- The photography of Hill & Adamson

9. Edinburgh Calotype Club Album

This site includes calotype images from from the 1840s, taken from Volumes 1 and 2 of the Edinburgh Calotype Club Album.

Volume 1 is held by the National Library of Scotland. Volume 2 is held by Edinburgh Central Library.

This site also gives notes on the early Scottish photographers whose images are included in the album.

10. Fife Photographers - Fife Family History Society

This site includes a list of Fife photographers and their studios, with some brief bibliographical details of the photographers.

11. Glasgow's Victorian Photographers A NEW LINK

This web site has been created by Arthur Low of Glasgow, who has been researching early Glasgow photographers for several years. His site includes:

- lists of dates and addresses for photographic studios in Glasgow, based on trade directories.

- a summary of photographic products and card designs.

- other sources of information on Victorian photography.

12. Hill and Adamson Catalogue Project

This is a project by Glasgow University to catalogue the work of the early Edinburgh calotypists, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, who were in partnership from 1843 to 1847

13. Hill and Adamson

This film gives a brief introduction to some of the Edinburgh photography of the early-1840s. It covers

- An Edinburgh Calotype Albums

- The photography of Hill & Adamson

14. Index of UK Photographers up to 1950

This site includes links to a number of web sites listing early photographers.

It also gives details of how to purchase books and booklets on the subject, including the RPS PhotoHistorian series of supplements listing the early photographers in different towns and cities around Britain. I recommend starting by clicking on 'Place Index' at the left hand side of the opening page.

15. James Clerk Maxwell

James Clerk Maxwell gave the first demonstration of colour photography to the Royal Institution in London in 1861. His demonstration was based on a specification outlined in a paper that he presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1855. These web sites tell the story of James Clerk Maxwell:

- James Clerk Maxwell Foundation

- James Clerk Maxwell's house.

- James Clerk Maxwell's education

- Maxwell Year - 2006 is the 175th anniversary of Maxwell's birth

16. James Good Tunny - Edinburgh photographer

Julian Bukits, Southside, Edinbrugh has been researching the history of South Clerk Street, Edinbrugh, and in particular the life and work of the Edinburgh photographer James Good Tunny.

Julian has written extensive notes on Tunny, and has now added some of these notes to his James Good Tunny web site.

17. James Valentine - Photography in the Isle of Man

The www.isle-of-man.com web site gives a brief summary of photography in the Isle of Man undertaken by James Valentine, one of the founding members of Edinburgh Photographic Society. Having entered the Isle of Man web site, you will have to click on 'Manx Notebook' then 'Tourism' then 'Post Cards' to find the Valentine details.

18. John Center and the Senter family - genealogy web site

This site was set up by Glenn Eason. It records dates of birth, death and marriage of many of the Senter family members. I have used this information, supplemented by updates from Veronika Ihlenfeldt to create the pages for John Center and the Senter family on this web site.

19. John McCosh - Calotype photographs in India

Three calotype photographs taken by the Scotsman, John McCosh in India in the 1840s can be found in an article entitled:

"Ethnographical Photography in India 1850-1900"

on the Andaman web site.

20. John Moffat

Ron Cosens, on this page of his Carte de Visite web site, has provided a useful history of the Edinburgh photographer, John Moffat. This page may be slow to load.

It includes a brief biography of John Moffat, based on the book written by John Moffat, grandson(?) of the photographer, John Moffat.

'Pioneer Scottish Photographic Artist
John Moffat, 1814-1894',

Ron Cosens' web site page includes

- extracts from the Census Returns of 1851, 61, 71, 81, 91.

- extracts from the press.

- many cartes de visite and a few other photos by Moffat.

- an extensive list of mount styles used by Moffat

21. Julia Margaret Cameron Trust

This site is dedicated to the early photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. It includes details of an exhibition of her work and a conference to be held at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, Yorkshire, England in 2003

Julia Margaret Cameron lived in Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England, but became a Member of the Photographic Society of Scotland in 1864 and sent photographs to the PSS Exhibition in December 1864

22. The Lafayette Negative Archive

Russell Russell Harris has compiled an archive of Lafayette negatives held by the Victoria & Albert Museum and made it available, together with further information on Lafayette, on the internet.

23. Marshall Wane (and other early Isle of Man photographers)

This page from the www.isle-of-man.com web site gives details of the studios of Marshall Wane, before his move to Edinburgh, and many other early photographers in the Isle of Man. Having entered the Isle of Man web site, you will have to click on 'Manx Notebook' then 'Tourism' then 'Photographers' to find the information on Marshall Wane and other early photographers.

24. Montreal Photographers - 1840 to 1950 - Patty Brown

25. Photographic Convention of the UK: Edinburgh 1892

To read an 'Account of Delegates of the London and Provincial Photographic Association on the Edinburgh Convention of 1892' which includes a photo of the delegates on board a ship sailing from London to Edinburgh, please see John Bradley's web site:

Alfred Seaman and the PCUK

26. Photographs Exhibited in Great Britain 1839-1865

Details of Photographs Exhibited in Great Britain, 1839-1865 were compiled by Roger Taylor and published as a book in 1999.

The same records were then set up as the PEIB web site in October 2005. Please click here to view the home page of the web site, from which the records can be searched to produce lists sorted by date, location, photographer or photographic process - or by original price of photograph for those where the exhibition catalogue included a price.

Please click here to see a list of many photographers who had connections with Edinburgh, all of whom are included on the web site.

27. Roger Fenton Correspondence

Thanks to Roger Taylor, an authority on the photography of Roger Fenton, there is now a web site that reproduces Roger Fenton's surviving letters sent from the Crimea in 1855.

Fenton was a prolific photographer during the Crimea. The PEIB web site lists over 1,100 of his photos, most from the Crimea, that were exhibited in Britain between 1852 and 1862. Most of these exhibitions were in London. Some were touring exhibitions.

28. Scottish Documents

The Scottish Documents web site gives access to wills up to 1901. This site includes 150 entries under a search for 'photographer'. These include an entry on 19 December 1901 for a photographer described as Julia Bonne (or Howie)

29. Andrew Young

Iain Sommerville has created a Burntisland Online web site for Burntisland, Fife. The site includes details of Andrew Young's work as a photogrpaher, artist and historian.

Burntisland is on the northern coast of the Firth of Forth, about eight miles to the north of Edinburgh.