Hugh Owen
In Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided
- In Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided
Explore Further
The still-young medium of photography made its debut on the world stage at the 1851 “Great Exhibition,” housed in the gargantuan glass and steel “Crystal Palace” and visited by six million people. At the conclusion of this first World’s Fair, the organizers commissioned a four-volume report—one of the most ambitious and consequential undertakings in the early history of photographic publishing. The production of 140 copies, each illustrated with 154 photographs, required more than 21,000 individual prints—an enormous task at a time when each photograph was “printed out” in the sun, rather than “developed out” in a darkroom.
ProvenanceBonham's reports: "We understand our vendor’s father purchased the set 50 or 60 years ago, and no family connection exists with any of the jurors."
This set does not have a “presentation leaf” in each volume, as often found in other sets, which may indicate that it was one of Talbot's 15 sets rather than a set presented by the Royal Commission to members of the juries, foreign governments, or British institutions.
[Bonhams London, Fine Books and Manuscripts, March 31, 2021, Lot 8].
Exhibition History"Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860," Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 24 - December 30, 2007; National Gallery of Art, February 3 - May 4, 2008; Musee d'Orsay, May 26 - September 7, 2008. (Art Gallery of Ontario copy of volumes 2, 3, & 4.)
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.