VICTORIAN STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS from the Collections of Studio Bassano and Elliott & Fry,London.

UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,khaki background with contemporary b/w Victorian portrait photographic illustrated dw/dj panels.with brown+black lettering to front; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present - a tiny snick,closed tear to rear,top edge of dw/dj,spine/backstrip inevitably and ubiquitously sunned/faded.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain dark green cloth boards with bright,crisp, blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and near immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn,7-144pp [paginated] includes 3 chapters/sections by various contributors: Victorian Studio Photographs by Bevis Hillier; The Techniques of Victorian Studio Photography by Brian Coe; The London Studios of Alexander Bassano and Elliott & Fry by Russell Ash.a section of contemporary Victorian b/w portrait photographs of eminent Victorians - each with biographical details provided by Russell Ash and Helen Varley,a 3pp index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,and a contents list/table.
A unique collection of photographic portraits of some of the most famous figures who lived in or visited London in the later years of Queen Victoria's reign,'Victorian Studio Photographs.' has a double value.It offers a fascinating insight into the way the eminent Victorians chose to view themselves: each portrait,carefully composed,lit, executed and finally granted the sitter's approval,is a finished copy of the subject's public personality.At the same time,the book demonstrates the complete social and technical success which crowned the first 50 years of the development of the art of photography. Bevis Hillier,editor of 'The Connoisseur' magazine and an acknowledged authority on the life-style of the Victorian age,describes the social background and the increasing stature of the art of portrait photography during the Victorian period.Brian Coe,Curator of the Kodak Museum,contributes an essay on the technical aspects of the studio photographers' equipment and methods.Working under carefully-controlled lighting conditions and using the finest equipment available,the leading studio photographers have left results the high quality of which would be difficult to equal today and which are of outstanding historical importance as the most truthful visual images we have of the makers of the late Victorian age. The publisher's have been given access to the archives of two such firms of studio photographers - Alexander Bassano and Elliott & Fry - both of whom photographed the principal artists,writers,actors, statesmen,churchmen,members of Society and the royal family of the last quarter of the 19th century.It was a glittering age and beautifully reproduced in 'Victorian Studio Photographs.' are the images of such classic Victorians as Lady Randolph Churchill, Oscar Wilde,William Morris,the Prince of Wales and his family,the young Lloyd George and Sir Henry Irving.Visitors to London,particularly renowned figures of the American literary establishment,also figure prominently in this collection,making it an outstanding pictorial record of a fascinating and imposing age.
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