Thomson John Smith Adolphe (15 results)

Condition: As New. Unread book in perfect condition.

Condition: New.

Paperback. Condition: Brand New. reprint edition. 134 pages. 11.25x8.50x0.25 inches. In Stock.

Condition: New.

Condition: As New. Unread book in perfect condition.

Paperback. Condition: Brand New. reprint edition. 134 pages. 11.25x8.50x0.25 inches. In Stock.

Paperback. Condition: New. Print on Demand. Step into the bustling streets of Victorian London and encounter the city's vibrant underbelly through the lens of social realism. This book delves into the lives of street vendors, laborers, and those dwelling on the fringes of society, offering a poignant glimpse into their struggles, resilience, and moments of joy amidst adversity. Drawing inspiration from earlier works like Henry Mayhew's "London Labour and the London Poor," this book captures the essence of a bygone era when poverty was no longer perceived as an enemy but as a societal challenge demanding systematic solutions. Through vivid descriptions and evocative photographs, the author sheds light on the harsh realities faced by London's working class, from the Covent Garden flower women to the cab drivers navigating the city's labyrinthine streets. This book invites readers to explore the complexities of Victorian society, challenging preconceived notions about the poor and revealing the human stories behind the statistics. It is a testament to the enduring spirit of those who persevered in the face of hardship, reminding us that the challenges and triumphs of urban life transcend time and place. This book is a reproduction of an important historical work, digitally reconstructed using state-of-the-art technology to preserve the original format. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in the book. print-on-demand item.

0. 18 cm. 181 S. : zahlr. Ill., kart., sauber u. gut erhalten. Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher ; 217 Auf Wunsch senden wir gerne ein Foto des Buches via E-mail Sprache: Deutschu 0,300 gr.

Gebundene Ausgabe 181 Seiten. Aus der Reihe "Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher", Nr. 217. Mit zahlreichen ganzseitigen s/w Fotos, sauberes Exemplar. 234 Sprache: Deutsch Gewicht in Gramm: 274.

0. 18 cm. 181 S., zahlr. Ill. kart. guter Zustand. Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher ; 217. Sprache: Deutschu 0,400 gr.

4to. (284 x 222 mm). pp. (i), 100 (including 21 leaves with plates). Title, list of plates and twenty-one monochrome Woodburytype photographs, each mounted on card within a red border with title in red. Original publisher's green cloth, with gilt title and elaborate decoration in blind and gilt figures from 'Covent Garden Flower Women' and 'the London Boardmen', printed floral endpapers, later cloth box with label with pictorial title to front board and label with title to spine (both taken from the binding itself). Street Incidents, John Thomson's photographic depictions of London's street life. Published as a shortened version of Thomson's earlier Street Life in London, Street Incidents contains 16 fewer plates, though apart from the altered title the binding is the same. It is unknown whether the plates were reprinted due to the popularity of the work or whether the present volume was reissued with fewer plates to ensure sale of the publisher's stock. Thomson's photographs in 'Street Life in London' and the commentary upon the images by Thomson and Adolphe Smith, depict a London in which life is a harsh and continuous struggle. The characters on view here are familiar to us more from Dickens' novels or from an idea of the Whitechapel of Jack the Ripper than from any nostalgic image of a strait-laced or patrician Victorianism. Each image is accompanied by descriptive text. Thomson and Smith are sympathetic to the objects of their study and seem intent on cataloguing the variety of types to be found rather than attempting any Barnum-like freakshow. As Thomson himself writes: 'The precision and accuracy of photography enables us to present true types of the London poor and shield us from the accusation of either underrating or exaggerating individual peculiarities of appearance'. 'Street Life in London . constitutes the first photographic social documentation of any kind.' (Gernsheim - The History of Photography pg. 447). ' . one of the most significant and far-reaching photobooks in the medium's history.' (The Photobook I, 48). [Parr / Badger I, 48; see Gernsheim pg. 447].

London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1881. Quarto (285 x 220 mm), publisher's pictorial red cloth stamped in gilt and black (boards with light staining and flecking, spine sunned and flecked, text block a little sprung), original patterned endpapers, pp [2], [1]-100, with 21 original woodburytypes from Thomson's original dry-plate negatives, each with printed caption and red ruled border, mounted as individual plates on the rectos of the leaves between pages 3 and 43; all of the woodburytpes and their page mounts are in superb condition, without fading or foxing; title page and last page of text with browning (as in other examples), upper margins of a few text pages with mild insect damage, hinges cracked but holding. The first use of published photographs as social documentary. In 1877-78 John Thomson had first collaborated with radical socialist writer Adolphe Smith Headingley in creating 36 photographs accompanied by textual commentary for the monthly parts of Street Life in London. Of this collaborationJohn Hannavy, inThe Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, wrote: 'The bringing together of the photographer John Thomson and the left-wing political writer and activist Adolphe Smith Headingley to work on the project which resulted in Street Life of London (1877-78), was a logical progression from the collaboration between Richard Beard and Henry Mayhew more than two decades earlier on Mayhew's study of London Labour and the London Poor. Headingley, who wrote under the name of Adolphe Smith, was relatively unknown when he and Thomson collaborated on Street Life and the pairing was an inspired one. Both men had sympathy towards the living and working conditions of their subjects.' In 1878 the twelve monthly parts ofStreet Lifewere reissued in book form; in 1881 an abridged version, Street Incidents,was published which retained the 1878 text but included only 21 of the 36 photographs (the present edition). Street Incidentswas issued essentially as a new work, and the publishers do not credit Thomson as the creator of the strikingly sharp imagesphotomechanically reproduced by the Woodburytype process from the photographer?s original dry-plate negatives. The images in Street Incidents are titled as follows: A Convict's Home; The Wall Worker; Covent Garden Labourers; Halfpenny Ices; Black Jack; The Cheap Fish of St. Giles; Cast-iron Billy; Worker's on the "Silent Highway"; The Street Fruit Trade; The London Boardmen; The Water-cart; "Mush-Fakers" and Ginger-Beer Makers; November Effigies; "Hookey Alf" of Whitechapel; The Crawlers; Italian Street Musicians; The Street Locksmith; The Seller of Shell-fish; Flying Dustmen; Old Furniture; The Independent Shoeblack. The taxonomic approach taken by Thomson to his work can almost be considered scientific: like an anthropologist, he was concerned to classify and accurately capture what he referred to as "the true types of the London poor". Smith (Headingley), with his evocative contextual essays based on interviews with the subjects, brought the element of reformist zeal to the equation. "A pioneering work of social documentation in photographs and words . one of the most significant and far-reaching photobooks in the medium's history." (Parr & Badger, Thephotobook: a history, I, 48).

First edition. First edition. Complete with 37 Woodburytype photographs mounted to 36 leaves. [4], 100 pp. 1 vols. 4to. The first edition of this pioneering use of photography for sociological study. The Scotsman Thomson (1837-1921) spent the decade 1862-1872 traveling in and producing some of the finest early photographic images of the Far East. After resettling in Britain, he joined forces with Adolphe Smith to produce this "important monthly publication . which pioneered the genre of photojournalism, combining hard-hitting, albeit posed, street photography, with documentary-style prose" (ODNB). It was originally published in monthly parts. A second, much abridged issue (with only 21 photos) appeared three years later, bound from incomplete remainder sheets. Subjects include a convicts' home, "Caney" the Clown, Covent Garden flower women, flying dustmen, London cabmen, London nomades, street doctors, seller of shell-fish, street fruit trade, workers on the "silent highway" etc. Half blue calf and marbled boards, spine gilt, morocco label. Slight lean, some marginal thumbsoiling, repaired tear above imprint on title page, small blemish to 2 or 3 images but photos generally fine Complete with 37 Woodburytype photographs mounted to 36 leaves. [4], 100 pp. 1 vols. 4to.

London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1881. Quarto (285 x 220 mm), publisher's pictorial red cloth stamped in gilt and black (boards with light staining and flecking, spine sunned and flecked, text block a little sprung), original patterned endpapers, pp [2], [1]-100, with 21 original woodburytypes from Thomson's original dry-plate negatives, each with printed caption and red ruled border, mounted as individual plates on the rectos of the leaves between pages 3 and 43; all of the woodburytpes and their page mounts are in superb condition, without fading or foxing; title page and last page of text with browning (as in other examples), upper margins of a few text pages with mild insect damage, hinges cracked but holding. The first use of published photographs as social documentary. In 1877-78 John Thomson had first collaborated with radical socialist writer Adolphe Smith Headingley in creating 36 photographs accompanied by textual commentary for the monthly parts of Street Life in London. Of this collaborationJohn Hannavy, inThe Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, wrote: 'The bringing together of the photographer John Thomson and the left-wing political writer and activist Adolphe Smith Headingley to work on the project which resulted in Street Life of London (1877-78), was a logical progression from the collaboration between Richard Beard and Henry Mayhew more than two decades earlier on Mayhew's study of London Labour and the London Poor. Headingley, who wrote under the name of Adolphe Smith, was relatively unknown when he and Thomson collaborated on Street Life and the pairing was an inspired one. Both men had sympathy towards the living and working conditions of their subjects.' In 1878 the twelve monthly parts ofStreet Lifewere reissued in book form; in 1881 an abridged version, Street Incidents,was published which retained the 1878 text but included only 21 of the 36 photographs (the present edition). Street Incidentswas issued essentially as a new work, and the publishers do not credit Thomson as the creator of the strikingly sharp imagesphotomechanically reproduced by the Woodburytype process from the photographer?s original dry-plate negatives. The images in Street Incidents are titled as follows: A Convict's Home; The Wall Worker; Covent Garden Labourers; Halfpenny Ices; Black Jack; The Cheap Fish of St. Giles; Cast-iron Billy; Worker's on the "Silent Highway"; The Street Fruit Trade; The London Boardmen; The Water-cart; "Mush-Fakers" and Ginger-Beer Makers; November Effigies; "Hookey Alf" of Whitechapel; The Crawlers; Italian Street Musicians; The Street Locksmith; The Seller of Shell-fish; Flying Dustmen; Old Furniture; The Independent Shoeblack. The taxonomic approach taken by Thomson to his work can almost be considered scientific: like an anthropologist, he was concerned to classify and accurately capture what he referred to as "the true types of the London poor". Smith (Headingley), with his evocative contextual essays based on interviews with the subjects, brought the element of reformist zeal to the equation. "A pioneering work of social documentation in photographs and words . one of the most significant and far-reaching photobooks in the medium's history." (Parr & Badger, Thephotobook: a history, I, 48).

First edition. 4to. 278x215mm. pp. 100. Text from p.45-100 following twenty-one monotone Woodburytypes printed from Thomson's original glass plates. Each image is framed with a red line border and the title printed in red. The text (which follows the photographs) consists of a commentary and description of the images. Original green pictorial cloth with gilt title and decoration in blind with two figures in gilt. Floral endpapers (lacking front free endpaper). Hinges cracked but holding, corners a little worn, bumping and slight creasing to head and foot of spine. Browning to title page and occasional marks not affecting the photographs which are very well preserved. The margins of two of the plates have handwritten notes in pencil identifying the location of the image. A nice copy of an important book. Street Incidents is a pioneering work of photojournalism which brought into the public eye many of London's marginal and impoverished characters who lived and worked on the streets. Thomson had made his name photographing China and the Far East in the 1860s. In the 1870s he turned his attention to London where, with the left-wing Anglo-French journalist Adolphe Smith, he produced the monthly magazine Street Life in London. Smith took part in the Paris Commune of 1871, played a leading role in the formation of the Trade Union movement and popularised the singing of "The Red Flag" to the tune of "O Tannenbaum". Although Thomson's photographs are a wonderfully vivid, it is Smith's accompanying essays with their wealth of journalistic detail that bring the lives of London's poor into three dimensions and turn the images into more radical campaigning documents.