JULIA MARGARET CAMERON Tennyson Friends 26 plates

JULIA MARGARET CAMERON Tennyson Friends 26 plates
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON & H.H. CAMERON, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and His Friends. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1893, Folio (15 by 18 inches), original beige cloth gilt binding loose with spine and edges worn. Unknown bookplate 2x3" inside front cover, embossment Forbes Library Northampton Mass, title page. (See Lot 103)

Limited first edition, number 189 of 400 copies, ASG# JMC/1012 of this collection of 26 rich photogravures, most by significant Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, depicting such notables as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, W. H. Longfellow, Thomas Carlyle, Sir Thomas Herschel and Charles Darwin. Julia Margaret Cameron's son Henry Herschel Hay Cameron was a photographer in his own right, and in 1893 he issued this album in an effort to revive his mothers reputation as well as promote his own work. Consisting of 26 photogravures made from original negatives of both artists, Lord Tennyson and His Friends was published in an edition of 400 copies. An essay by the writer Anne Thackeray Ritchie, a family friend, accompanied the images; in it, she compared Julia Margaret Cameron to Old Master painters.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) was every bit the Victorian lady with a strong interest in the arts and literature. She was given a camera when she was 48 and experimented with photography for only about ten years but produced some of the most extraordinary portraits of Victorian England. Her photographs can be divided into two main types: those of famous Victorians (such as Herschel, Carlyle, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Darwin and the actress Ellen Terry) and her recreations of literary, biblical and historical events. Her portrait style, of large head close-ups, is instantly recognizable. During the relatively short period when she was active she produced over 3,000 large format wet collodion negatives. She moved back to India (Ceylon) in 1875 and thereafter produced very few photographs.
Condition: Good overall. Interior good, binding loose with spine worn at edges and top