Travelling for pleasure in the Victorian era was only available to a small wealthy portion of the population and was not without risks. It soon became evident that, thanks to the stereoscope, a large number of people who could not afford the expense of going on a Grand Tour, could at least buy stereo cards of the places they wished to visit.

During the epidemic that took place during the winter of 1910-1911, some 60,000 people were struck down by a pulmonary form of the disease that invariably proved fatal. At its height, in January and February 1911, there was a partial breakdown of social order. Chinese medicine could provide no cure for the plague, and burgeoning discontent weakened social ties in a region where subsistence itself was problematic.

An exceptional archive, original photographs mostly taken by Henry-René d’Allemagne during his various archaeological, ethnographic and artistic expeditions in Persia between 1898 and 1907.

Up to now very little was known about American-born stereo daguerreotypist Warren Thompson and the information we had about him was very scant, so much so that nobody knew when and where he was born or what happened to him after the early 1860s. This article aims at providing never-published-before answers to some aspects of the life of this remarkable photographer, who is mainly known through a fairly small quantity of surviving stereo daguerreotypes which include some staged self-portraits.

On April 22, 1890, citizens of the central Kansas town of McPherson were greeted with a directive in the local paper: “Expression is the key to character. Think of this then have Mrs. Vreeland Whitlock take your picture.” Rosa Vreeland-Whitlock’s penchant for inventive advertisements led to a successful 30-year career as a studio photographer – and earned her a place in Katherine Manthorne’s new book, Women in the Dark: Female Photographers in the US, 1850–1900.

Coming in close succession, major authenticity scandals in 1997 and 1999 involving photographs attributed to Man Ray and Lewis Hine sent a shudder of uncertainty across the collecting community.

A photograph is more than an image. Paper, the physical material of the photographer, plays a vital role in the appearance of a photographic print and in conveying the photographer’s intention for it.

“Mad Romantic” is a term often used in the literature to describe the biographical journey of the extravagant John J. McKendry. Born in 1933 in Canada, McKendry was the Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 1967 until his brutal death in 1975

On his studio floor or on small stages, Arnold would construct elaborate sets covered in fabric, paper, and found objects such as masks, jewelry, toys, bottle caps, coins, and shells. These repurposed parts proved the value and power of trash, of the discarded and meaningless, made into precious treasure through Arnold’s photography.

It is very important to bear in mind that when she sailed for the Crimea, the name of Florence Nightingale was totally unknown to the general public. Queen Victoria herself had only heard mention of her a few days prior to her departure and knew very little about her.

The chase involved in looking through thousands of amateur photographs in search of those that elicit the same endorphin rush as professional photographers' best work is a challenge of endurance and often a masochistic practice.

As a photographic historian, I knew that the iconic 19th century photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, had moved To Ceylon from the Isle of Wight with her husband Charles Hay Cameron in 1875. To prepare for every contingency, the Camerons had brought along their coffins, the maid, and a live cow on the ship traveling to the distant shore.

We began with some brief introductions and they turned to lay out their photographs on the sofas, from the seats to the wall, leaning them for all to see. I thought we should start with a first critique to see where people were in their work. Among the lot, one group stood out and I gravitated toward them. One student took ownership, identifying herself as Francesca Woodman.

What makes Spiers and Son’s Oxford in the Stereoscope so unique for the photo historian is that the original negatives used to print the cards have nearly all survived and that there were at least twice as many images taken than were published. It is a real photographic treasure!

“I’ve put several trial photographs on display at the Städel’sches Kunst-Institut”, announced Frankfurt photographer Sigismund Gerothwohl (1808–before 1902) in 1845 in an advertising text in the newssheet of the Free City of Frankfurt. That presentation formed the prelude to the first exhibition of photographs ever to be mounted in a German art museum.

In his pursuit of the vernacular, Evans was reacting against self-conscious art photography of the kind practiced and promoted by Alfred Stieglitz. For Evans, true lyricism entered spontaneously or was discovered after the fact.

Artists frequently hesitate to apply the results of their experiments to their practical work, for they share the universal fear that mechanization may lead to a petrification of art. They fear that the open revelation of elements of construction, or any artificial stimulation of the intellect the introduction of mechanical contrivances may sterilize all creative efforts.

Two days after I arrived in London in March 1975 I started working at The Photographers' Gallery. It was ten days before the photography auction that Philippe Garner and Sue had tirelessly worked on for months.

The poor quality materials commonly used in commercial mounting and framing can seriously damage photographs, especially gelatine silver prints. Such prints are particularly vulnerable as the finely divided silver, which forms the image, has a huge surface area so is chemically very reactive.

During the summer of 2019, while we were going through stereo cards and photographs at Bruno Tartarin’s professional premises, my assistant Rebecca drew my attention to a photo album she had just leafed through and which had awakened her interest.

Since my teenage years, I have always been fascinated to seek out the earliest photographs of the cities I visited to understand what the cities used to look like and how they developed into what they are today. This was normally achieved through books. Naturally when I arrived in Jakarta in late 1989, I sought out books containing early photographs of the city.

We travelled slowly down the narrow coastline from Hanoi in the north, to Saigon in the south. On the walls of a number of coffee shops and restaurants, along the way, enlarged coloured French postcards of early-1900s local scenes and portraits were often displayed - suggestive of Vietnamese people’s latent interest in the visual history of their country.

My father, Erwin, came to New York in July 1939 to advance his photographic career. He had just finished a one-year contract with Vogue (Paris) where he had produced that most memorable image of Lisa Fonssagrives floating in her dress on the Eiffel Tower.  Erwin was then hoping to arrange a better contract from Harper’s Bazaar and other magazines.

In the late 1960s I was a student at university. I had no money and struggled to afford the two shillings and sixpence each month to buy Creative Camera Owner magazine. But I knew I had to have it.

The women in the photos are collaborators – conspirators – sharing with the photographer intimate moments that will be preserved in gelatin silver. Saul and his subjects are playing, romping, having a good time together. As each woman lets her guard down, revealing her true self, she reflects the trust she has in Saul.