Photographic History
My collection of photohistory and photographica covers mostly the period before the second world war, by when nearly all of the evolution of (non-digital) photography we use today was completed. By then there were good photographic materials in monochrome, and the beginnings of modern colour systems for both prints and transparencies. Cameras ranged from enormous, through sizes still common today (120, 35mm) down to subminiatures like the Minox. Rangefinder, twin-lens and single-lens reflex, stereo, and panorama had all been tried, and the basic layout of the 20th-century 35mm SLR was established. Cameras with built-in light meters were on the market. Cheap box cameras to bring photography to everyone had been available for many years, together with the necessary processing services. Instant photography was available on every popular beach in the summer, albeit often wanting in quality. Still to come were, of course, some important refinements - auto exposure control, autofocus, good wide-angle and zoom lenses, faster film.
There is a strong family history thread running through this too. My grandfather, Ernest Marriage, was a keen photographer, sometimes doing it professionally. He wrote many articles and two books on photography, being a pioneer in telephotography around the turn of the century. My father Tony Marriage worked for Kodak all his career, in the research laboratory in Wealdstone. My interest is as a keen amateur and collector, my daughter-in-law Anna Marriage is a professional photographer in Cambridge ... so the story continues.
The collection is still growing, and I am always interested to hear of interesting new items.
So, if you have anything either to sell or to discuss/research, especially in the following areas, please email me:
Books on photographic technique - pre-1900
Books on photographers, especially landscape, architectural and abstract subjects - pre-1940
Photographs in the same subject areas pre-1914, especially the older processes such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, woodburytypes
Books illustrated with actual photographs (as opposed to half-tone reproductions)
Good early albums of photographs - e.g. topographical, industrial history particularly if well annotated
Cameras and other photographic gear - pre-1940
Always happy to help with research, or just talk to like-minded collectors! I am the editor of Photographica World, the magazine of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain. It is the largest circulation English-language photo-history magazine in the world. If you have an article to publish, contact me, maybe we can help.
There is a strong family history thread running through this too. My grandfather, Ernest Marriage, was a keen photographer, sometimes doing it professionally. He wrote many articles and two books on photography, being a pioneer in telephotography around the turn of the century. My father Tony Marriage worked for Kodak all his career, in the research laboratory in Wealdstone. My interest is as a keen amateur and collector, my daughter-in-law Anna Marriage is a professional photographer in Cambridge ... so the story continues.
The collection is still growing, and I am always interested to hear of interesting new items.
So, if you have anything either to sell or to discuss/research, especially in the following areas, please email me:
Books on photographic technique - pre-1900
Books on photographers, especially landscape, architectural and abstract subjects - pre-1940
Photographs in the same subject areas pre-1914, especially the older processes such as daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, woodburytypes
Books illustrated with actual photographs (as opposed to half-tone reproductions)
Good early albums of photographs - e.g. topographical, industrial history particularly if well annotated
Cameras and other photographic gear - pre-1940
Always happy to help with research, or just talk to like-minded collectors! I am the editor of Photographica World, the magazine of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain. It is the largest circulation English-language photo-history magazine in the world. If you have an article to publish, contact me, maybe we can help.
Talks
I regularly give talks to both specialist and general audiences. Lectures for camera collectors are usually quite technical, and are all given within the PCCGB organisation, but for other types of audience please contact me. Most of my material is about Victorian photography and the period before World War II, and usually it can be themed to suit your interests. Some examples, all illustrated with digital slides, and/or real examples of cameras and images:
Photography - the first fifty years. This covers from the beginnings and even the prehistory of photography, up to the launch of the first Kodak, which really put photography into the hands of ordinary people. It is image-led but covers the technology enough to make sense of the pictures.
Taking your likeness. The experience of being photographed in Victorian times. Some of the “first fifty years” material, plus studios, cameras, the photographer’s stage set, etc. What it was like for the rich, and later the less rich, to experience their first time as a photographer’s subject.
Into the Wilds. Expedition photography in Victorian times was heroic beyond belief. Photographers had to endure all the usual perils, plus carry with them a complete mobile darkroom, and hundredweights of glass plates and chemicals. And they could produce results we would struggle to equal today.
How did we get Here? The journey from a Victorian studio camera to today’s 35mm or digital single lens reflex. This talk is of particular interest to camera clubs.
The Gold Photographs of Mizuno Hanbeh. A remarkable photographer in late nineteenth century Japan, who invented a method of creating the traditional Japanese gold-on-lacquer work by photographic means. I and two colleagues have done extensive research and I can show the results of that, and exhibit numerous examples.
Lichtenberg & Trouvelot. The originator of the Lichtenberg Figure, and a pioneer of the creation of Lichtenberg Figures by the direct action of electrical discharges on photographic film.
The History of Book Illustration. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how can we print it beautifully, cheaply and quickly in a book? The story of the technologies, which starts before the beginning of printing with movable type in the fifteenth century, and continues to develop today. As well as a talk, I bring plenty of real examples of books with printed illustrations for you to see and (gently) handle.
Photography - the first fifty years. This covers from the beginnings and even the prehistory of photography, up to the launch of the first Kodak, which really put photography into the hands of ordinary people. It is image-led but covers the technology enough to make sense of the pictures.
Taking your likeness. The experience of being photographed in Victorian times. Some of the “first fifty years” material, plus studios, cameras, the photographer’s stage set, etc. What it was like for the rich, and later the less rich, to experience their first time as a photographer’s subject.
Into the Wilds. Expedition photography in Victorian times was heroic beyond belief. Photographers had to endure all the usual perils, plus carry with them a complete mobile darkroom, and hundredweights of glass plates and chemicals. And they could produce results we would struggle to equal today.
How did we get Here? The journey from a Victorian studio camera to today’s 35mm or digital single lens reflex. This talk is of particular interest to camera clubs.
The Gold Photographs of Mizuno Hanbeh. A remarkable photographer in late nineteenth century Japan, who invented a method of creating the traditional Japanese gold-on-lacquer work by photographic means. I and two colleagues have done extensive research and I can show the results of that, and exhibit numerous examples.
Lichtenberg & Trouvelot. The originator of the Lichtenberg Figure, and a pioneer of the creation of Lichtenberg Figures by the direct action of electrical discharges on photographic film.
The History of Book Illustration. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how can we print it beautifully, cheaply and quickly in a book? The story of the technologies, which starts before the beginning of printing with movable type in the fifteenth century, and continues to develop today. As well as a talk, I bring plenty of real examples of books with printed illustrations for you to see and (gently) handle.
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