Little People

One of the things I love about old photographs (of which I don't possess any originals - just Victorian photo books of 'sights' of London, which were mass produced for tourists) are the little people just visible in the picture. Two of them grace the title of this blog - a couple caught crossing Westminster Bridge, as it happens - I love the way he's carrying the baskets for them both - and how you can tell they're working class from him doing just that, and the cut of his clothes.

At the other end of the spectrum, I just came across this trio near Green Park

Of course, they may not be a trio at all ... the man on the left is looking away, as they cross the road. But I love his jaunty steps, the brisk walk with the cane, as opposed to the man on the right, loosely holding his umbrella, seemingly just sauntering - his wife hitching up her skirts to avoid the mess on the road. The man with the cane has a self-important air about him - was he a leading politican, financier or just a military man with an upright bearing?

All that's left of him, of course, is this smudge on a page.

East End Views

Just stumbled across some great East End photographs which have been made available by Tower Hamlets Local History Library (not all Victorian but many are fascinating) here.

Photography

PHOTOGRAPHY

I'm kicking myself that I forgot to mention the British Library's Points of View exhibition on 19th Century photography, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. There's a lot to see here - not so much on London, but it does include Fox Talbot's famous shot of Nelson's Column under construction from the 1840s. There's also a nice blog of the exhibition, including some videos of early photographic methods, in case you fancy trying your hand at the wet collodion process. My first book London Dust deals with early Victorian photography, as it happens ... along with a couple of murders, a pornographer and a music hall star ...

More Cartes de Visites

MORE CARTES DE VISITES ...

Further to my earlier post, Ken Page has generously donated a few more excellent cartes de visite to the site ... enjoy!

Regent Street Photograph

Regent Street Photograph

Good photographs of Victorian London are hard to come by, and even when I find 'Views of London'-type books, originally aimed at tourists, I tend to snap them up for www.victorianlondon.org. A small handful from The Premier Photographic View Album of London, 1907 are now on the site (see the Bibliography) but I most like the detail above from the Regent Street photograph. In truth, it's probably Edwardian. In any case, notice the car amongst all the horse traffic (see Transport for more on cars - they first appeared in 1896 or thereabouts), the policeman on the right (directing pedestrians?) and the little boy sitting on the back step (what is the proper word for this?) of the landau as it rattles along!