A Tour of Edinburgh Libraries’ Collection of Early Photography

If you have some time today, check out this video series by digital filmmaker and photographer Rich Ferguson, created for the Edinburgh Libraries in the capital of Scotland. It’s a brief tour through the collection of early Victorian photography held by the libraries.

The first film in the series, embedded above, looks at a volume of images by the Edinburgh Calotype Club from 1842. This is widely recognized as the first camera club ever to exist in the world. Found on the list of members is none other than William Fox Talbot, the British inventor and photography pioneer that invented the calotype process.

The video above focuses not on Talbot, but on photography pioneers (and club members) David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson.

Here is the second video in the series, which explores the work of photographers Thomas Keith and Archibald Burns:

You can explore these images and subjects yourself by visiting the libraries’ Capital Collections website.

Ferguson tells us they’re working on a third video in the series that looks at an early example of a family photo album. We’ll update this post with that video when it becomes available.

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Update: Here’s part III of the series: