Description
Thomas Annan had already established a reputation as one of Scotland's leading photographers when he was commissioned by the City of Glasgow Improvement Trust to take photographs of the closes and wynds of old Glasgow that were scheduled for demolition under the Glasgow City Improvements Act of 1866. Thirty-one photographs were taken. Two editions of these photographs were produced from the collodion negatives in the years following the completion of the commission. The original series of prints used the albumen process and were created in limited numbers. In 1878, as a result of demand from a number of institutions, the Trustees had a second edition of 100 published, with an additional nine photographs. This edition used Joseph Swan's carbon print process for which Annan had secured exclusive usage rights for Scotland in 1866.
Attached to title page : handwritten letter dated 9 September 1881 from Lord Provost John Ure at City Chambers to Dr. R. Scott Orr, President of the Faculty of the Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, giving details of the circumstances surrounding the presentation of a special set of the photographs to the Faculty.
[2] leaves, 40 leaves of plates