One of fifteen sets of the Reports by the Juries (1852) given by the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1851 to William Henry Fox Talbot and presented by him to his daughter Matilda sold at auction in London today for £216,000 including buyer's premium (£180,000 hammer price). The successful bidder was the London-based dealer, author and collector of middle eastern photography Badr El-Hage. El-Hage, who is known to have close links with several museums and collectors in the Middle East, was presumably buying the four volume set on behalf of a client.

Bidding on the lot, which was estimated at a very modest £20,000-30,000, opened at £16,000 with commission bids and then it quickly became a bidding battle between a seated and relaxed El-Hage and a nervous tall gentleman standing close by him at the back of the auction room. The standing gent was taking instructions via a mobile phone. One telephone line was also open.

El-Hage entered the bidding early on battling with the standing gentleman who looked to have it within his grasp at £150,000 before El-Hage, returned at £160,000. The standing man paused, hands shaking, and asked his caller whether he wanted to carry on. For a fraction of a second the lot appeared to be his at £170,000. El-Hage, with no hesitation, then bid again taking the price to t £180,000. The standing man asked his caller if he wished to bid and then stopped at that point. El-Hage raised his bidding number 795 and the auctioneer brought his hammer down. The lot had sold.

The four volume set which contained some of the strongest calotype prints in any set I have seen will require an export licence. As there are other sets in the UK - albeit without the particular Talbot provenance - this is unlikely to present any great hurdle. There are sets in, for example, the British Library, at the National Media Museum and in the University of London's Senate House. Furthermore, there are, presumably, still sets in the hands of descendents or passed to libraries from the 115 recipients presented with copies back in 1852 and some more of the 15 sets that Talbot was awarded - although it is likely that the full quota was never completed.

There have been two relatively recent sales: in 2001 Christie's sold a set with medals, originally presented to Lt. Crossman RE for £64,250 (including premium) and in 2007 a set formerly from the Fred Spira Collection, originally presented to John Gott, sold for €75,600 (inc premium) approx £45,200.

A link to the original BPH blog report which includes a link through to the full catalogue description is here: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/reports-by-the-juries-1851

The Royal Photographic Society, has announced that its Director General, Stuart Blake, will be retiring in the coming months. Society President, Rosemary Wilman, acknowledged Mr Blake's more than 20 years' distinguished service, initially as finance officer and since 2004 combining this role with that of Director General. The Society’s Trustees are now in the process of recruiting a new Director General, with a revised remit, to work with them in leading the future direction and development of The Royal Photographic Society. Details of the post, and how to apply are below.

BPH readers may be interested to know that a former Director General went on to head the National Media Museum and British Film Institute.

Founded in 1853 and the recipient of a Royal Charter in 2004, The Royal Photographic Society is an educational charity and learned society, ‘to promote the Art and Science of Photography’. The Society is the largest membership organisation representing individual photographers in the UK and also has a considerable overseas membership, a testament to its high global reputation.

Membership is open to all with an interest in photography, regardless of experience. The interests and activities of The Society are diverse, covering both the amateur and professional fields in all their varied aspects. The Society recognises world-class achievement with its global leading Distinctions. It runs a highly-respected annual programme of educational events, the prestigious annual Royal Photographic Society Awards and national and international exhibitions. With The Society’s staff and headquarters based in the beautiful city of Bath, the work of the Society involves a large and highly engaged volunteer community, who, along with its Trustees, support its wider regional and overseas operations.

With the retirement of the present Director General, The Society is seeking a dynamic and visionary individual to take up this critical post. The Director General will work with The Society’s Trustees to lead the future direction and development of the Organisation, and in addition, will have management responsibility for its staff and daily operations. As the key representative of The Society to its stakeholder and volunteer community, and to potential new members, the Director General will demonstrate flexibility, confidence and creativity. The post holder will drive innovative developments to raise the profile of the organisation nationally and internationally. Whilst an interest in photography and the arts is highly desirable, a genuine passion for the mission and future of The Society in the 21st Century is essential.

For further information on how to apply for this post, please visit www.perrettlaver.com/candidates, quoting reference 0886. The deadline for applications is midday on Wednesday 22nd June 2011.

The Britain from Above Project will make accessible approximately 95,000 images dating from 1919 to 1953 from the Aerofilms Collection. This important historic aerial archive was acquired by a partnership of English Heritage, and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and Scotland in 2007 and illustrates the changing face of Britain throughout the 20th century. This post will be based in Edinburgh and will have particular responsibility for cataloguing the Scottish images which date from 1919-1953.

The post holder will be expected to have a degree in history, geography or other relevant discipline and/or a proven track record of working with photographic or other archives. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a high level of computer literacy and experience of using GIS and aerial photographs.

RCAHMS provides a challenging and stimulating working environment. Benefits include flexible working hours, generous support for Continuing Professional Development and a choice of Civil Service and stakeholder pension is also available. RCAHMS is an equal opportunities employer and operates a no-smoking policy within its building.

RCAHMS - The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Fixed Term Appointment - 8 Months. £22,664 to £27,359.

For further information and an application form, contact HR department at personnel@rcahms.gov.uk, or in writing to HR department, RCAHMS, John Sinclair House, 16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh, EH8 9NX (Tel: 0131-662 1456; Fax 0131-662 1477).

Closing date for the return of completed application forms 12.00pm on 22nd June 2011.

One exhibition that might not come across your radar is Snaps Walking Pictures at Bridlington until 3 August 2011. Easy On The Eye have a display of walking picture images running from April 16 – August 3 2011 at Sewerby Hall, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. I have also done an online gallery of the images for people who might be interested (“Snaps” Walking Pictures ).

The idea for this display arose after contacting East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and curators at Sewerby Hall and Gardens, who were helpful in furnishing me with information and images they held regarding the Snaps company and William Foster-Brigham, who operated in Bridlington.

It is difficult to display original waking pictures. They were produced at speed and can become brittle with age and sensitive to light. For the exhibition I decided to produce a series of prints based on the original images but incorporating graphic and handwritten elements often found on the back of the photographs, placed there by the producers and subsequent owners. The original images were scanned at very high resolution then edited digitally, although nothing has been removed from the photographs themselves beyond some cropping. These new images were then uploaded to a local photographic processors via the internet and outputted onto Fujiflex, one of the new photographic papers developed in recent years for digital photographs. One cannot help but wonder what William Foster Brigham would have made of all these innovations in his trade.

The original photographs are largely from the Easy On The Eye collection of Walking Pictures. In most cases the people are unknown but where we have any detail it is given in the caption list accompanying the gallery. I would like to thank Colin Harding at Bradford Media Museum for the loan of a couple of images. Also David Barnard who ran the remainder bookshop Wharf 18, Prince Street. David allowed me access to the premises to look for traces of the Snaps business before he closed his shop at the start of 2011.

See: http://gohomeonapostcard.wordpress.com/exhibition/ 

As already reported here in brief Elizabeth Edwards, who has published extensively over the last 30 years in the areas of photography, history and visual anthropology, will join De Montfort University (DMU) as the first Director of the Photographic History Research Centre.

Many of Professor Edwards’ edited books and monographs – such as Photography and Anthropology (1992), and Raw Histories (2001) – have become required reading across the subjects of photographic history, art history, history, anthropology and the history of science.

Her recent work includes the book, Photography, Anthropology and History (co-edited with Christopher Morton, 2009) and a forthcoming monograph with Duke University Press on photography and the historical imagination in late-Nineteenth- and early-Twentieth-Century England.

She is known equally well for her collaborative efforts to digitise museum collections, most notably through the creation of The Tibet Album, British Photography in Central Tibet 1920-1950.

Professor Edwards succeeds Emeritus Professor Roger Taylor, who retired last session. Professor Taylor’s research in photographic history prepared the formation the centre, as acknowledged in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Professor Edwards currently leads the HERA-funded project, ‘Photographs, Colonial Legacy and Museums in Contemporary European Culture’ (PhotoCLEC), which transfers to DMU with Professor Edwards. The university is also pleased to welcome Matthew Mead, the Research Fellow associated with this project.

Both Edwards and Mead joined the university on 1 June 2011.

National Media Museum - Award winning, visionary and truly unique, The National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate about the world of media.

You will provide wide-ranging support to the Marketing and PR team, from general admin through to collating press cuttings and distributing marketing materials. It’s the perfect opportunity to build your knowledge of marketing and PR, learning to write copy, produce basic artwork and co-ordinate photography and filming and represent the Museum at events. Knowledge of PR/Marketing and an interest in the arts would be ideal – but if you have office experience, good organisational skills and the confidence to work with people at all levels, you’ll soon settle in.

Marketing and PR Assistant
£14,500 Bradford

To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk  

Closing date: 10th June 2011
Interviews: 23rd & 24th June 2011

We welcome applications from all sections of the community in which we work. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and we guarantee interviews to suitably qualified disabled applicants.

We regret that we can only respond to successful applicants.
No agencies please.

Photographing the City builds on the
success
of
the
2009
Visual
Literacy
Series
–
Staging,
Manipulation
and
Photographic
Truth. This
year
there
will
be
two
major
events
based
on
Photography
and
the
City.

Andy
Golding
and
Eileen
Perrier
will
focus
on
how
to
think
through
the
production
of
photographic
projects,
how
to

contextualise
the
city,
its
development
and
inhabitants
and
consider
ways
in
which
the
city
and
its
social

conditions,
(housing,
work,
poverty,
war),
cultural
trends
(music,
film,
fashion)
and
artistic
production
can
be

represented
through
photography.



They
will
discuss
the
genres
of
documentary,
urban
landscape,
street
photography,
fashion,
photojournalism,

conceptual
art
and
constructed
photography
in
representing
city
themes.
Informed
by
significant
historical

images,
beginning
with
Henry
Fox
Talbot's
photograph
of
the
construction
of
Trafalgar
Square,
they
will
show
the

development
of
student
work
from
their
summer
school
“Photographing
London”
leading
to
the
most
fascinating

and
revealing
images.
The
teaching
and
learning
experience
has
evidenced
a
structure
to
creative
practice
and

has
resulted
in
a
valuable
and
growing
archive
of
city
based
photography.




Tom
Hunter
will
talk
about
his
own
photographic
practice
and
how
it
responds
to
the
city.
His
work,
which
focuses
on
his
 local
neighbourhood
of
Hackney
in
East
London
covers
topics
including
the
representation
of
marginal
groups, such
as
squatters
and
travellers
within
the
city.
His
work
also
sets
out
to
document
the
changing
face
of
the
inner
city
by
looking
at
council
estates
through
their
architecture,
the
residents
and
their
histories.
He
will
also
be ooking
at
local
businesses,
which
chart
the
different
waves
of
immigration,
which
have
made
such
a
powerful mpact
on
the
history
and
development
on
the
East
End
of
London.
http://www.tomhunter.org 




Marco
Bohr
Representing
Tokyo. Marco
Bohr's
presentation
will
focus
on
the
different
approaches
used
by
Japanese
photographers
to
represent the
megapolis
Tokyo.
From
the
student
uprisings
in
the
late
1960s
to
the
post‐recessionary
period
of
the
1990s, the
photographic
representation
of
Tokyo
is
inextricably
linked
to
social,
political
and
ideological
shifts
in
Japanese
society.
Marco's
talk
will
focus
on
how
photographers
utilized
photographic
techniques,
such
as blurriness,
high
key
printing
or
overexposure,
to
create
a
subjective
vision
of
a
dense
urban
landscape.
The varying
impressions
of
Tokyo
project
a
cityscape
that
is
fluid,
evolving
and
multifaceted.
Marco
is
currently completing
his
PhD
on
Japanese
photography
of
the
1990s
at
the
University
of
Westminster.




Rut
Blees
Luxemburg
will
talk
about
her
photographs
which
explore
the
public
spaces
of
the
city,
where
the
ambitions
and unexpected
sensual
elaborations
of
the
‘modern
project’
are
revealed
and
contested.
In
her
photographic
work
she
brings
to
light
the
overlooked,
the
dismissed
and
the
unforeseen
of
the
urban
complex
and
creates immersive
and
vertiginous
compositions
that
challenge
prevailing
representations
of
the
city.
Her
large‐scale photographic
works
expand
the
concept
of
the
common
sensual
in
relation
to
urban
public
space
and

representation.
Rut’s
work
has
been
exhibited
internationally
and
included
in
key
publications
and
exhibitions
on

contemporary
photography
and
art.
Her
monograph
‘Common
sensual’
collects
the
artist’s
work
including
her

collaborative
forays
into
opera,
literature,
architecture
and
urban
culture.
www.rutbleesluxemburg.com  


The event takes place on 18 June
2011
at the University
of
Westminster, 35
Marylebone
Road,
London,
NW1
5LS,
(Opposite
Baker
Street
Tube
Station), London

RPS
Members
and
Students
£15/Non
Members
£20


To book call reception on 01225 325 733 or email reception@rps.org

A perfect introduction to historic photographic processes. This one day workshop covers the beginnings of camera-less photography and will allow you to develop your skills and knowledge into the printing process that started it all. This is William Henry Fox Talbot’s first photographic process, the photogenic drawing, the basis for all photographic printing that came later. This workshop teaches you the basic chemistry and techniques of the process, discusses some of Talbot’s variations and allows you to explore the artistic possibilities under expert guidance.

The workshop takes place onhttp://talbotworkshops.webs.com/photogenicdrawing.htm 13 August and is limited to ten participants. It is led by Richard Cynan Jones. Click here for more information:

Entanglements with Colour. An evening of talks celebrating the world-changing scientific discoveries of James Clerk Maxwell during his time at King's College London, on the 150th anniversary of his demonstration of the first colour photograph at Kings College, London.

Speakers:  Basil Mahon, Maxwell Biographer; Professor Frank James, Royal Institution; Mr William Ayliffe, Gresham Professor of Physic Professor John Ellis, Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics, King's College London

All are welcome to attend, registration not neccessary (for planning purposes if would like to attend it would be extremely helpful if you could email anna.ashton@kcl.ac.uk).

For more events around this centenary see: http://maxwell.kcl.ac.uk/events/2011/entanglements-with-colour 

De Montfort University is pleased to announce the availability of one Wilson Fellowship for its innovative MA course in Photographic History and Practice. The Fellowship offers £5,000 toward the defrayal of tuition and other costs related to the MA and is open to all students from the UK, EU and international. To apply for the Wilson Fellowship, please submit a piece of recent writing on photographic history no longer than 10,000 words, in English, to the Admissions Committee.

For applications to the MA, please contact Student Recruitment at the Faculty of Art and Design at artanddesign@dmu.ac.uk or apply online at www.ukpass.ac.uk.

For questions about the MA programme or the Wilson Fellowship please contact Programme Leader, Dr Kelley Wilder at kwilder@dmu.ac.uk.

The MA in Photographic History and Practice is the first course of its kind in the world. It lays the foundations for understanding the scope of photographic history and provides the tools to carry out the independent research in this larger context, working in particular from primary source material. In addition to our collaboration with the Wilson Centre for Photography Studies in London, we work closely with the collections of the National Media Museum, Bradford, the Central Library, Birmingham, the British Library and private collections throughout Britain. Students handle photographic material, learn analogue photographic processes, write history from objects in collections, compare historical photographic movements, and debate the canon of photographic history. They also learn about digital preservation and access issues through practical design projects involving website and database design.

Research Methods are a core component, providing students with essential handling, writing, digitizing and presentation skills needed for MA and research level work.

Further modules will encourage independent thinking in theory and in history writing, introduce students to methodologies commonly encountered in photographic history, and set the students on a course for finding their own MA dissertation topic. Students receive expert advice on the thesis topic of their choosing, which is written in the summer months and submitted in September, one year after the course begins, in the case of full time study, or two years in the case of part-time. For further details on the course and application process, please download a course brochure from the web site: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/art_and_design/pg_courses/photographic-history-practice.jsp

The Photographers’ Gallery is due to reopen in a transformed space at Ramillies St in late 2011/early 2012, providing, for the first time in our history, artists, audiences and our funders with the high calibre facilities expected of a photography space in the 21st century. Opportunities for effective fundraising from the corporate, private, and public sector will be dramatically improved through the new facilities on offer.

Reporting to the Director and working closely with the 3 members of the development team, you will be responsible for developing and implementing the fundraising strategy to raise the revenue needs for the new gallery programme.

With at least 5 years minimum experience in revenue fundraising, with 2 years at senior level, you will have a proven track record of successful fundraising within the corporate sector and have some experience in securing grants from foundations, trusts and the public sector.

Closing date for application June 1st 2011

See: http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pid=243

Amateurs and Artists: 19th and 21st Century Photography in the South West. A conference presented by Royal Photographic Society, Historical Group, from Friday, 13 May– Sunday, 15 May 2011 in the Lecture Theatre 2, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA.

Early photography in Plymouth is an untold story. Robert Hunt, independent inventor of photographic processes, Richard Beard, the first daguerreotype licensee, Charles Eastlake RA, first RPS president, and Linnaeus Tripe, an early calotypist, were all from Plymouth. W.H.F. Talbot, inventor of the positive/negative (calotype negative) process, photographed Plymouth in 1845 and Roger Fenton photographed the Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, in 1858. Local interest in photography was such that the Devon and Cornwall Photographic Circle was established in January 1854.

The conference is linked closely to three exhibitions. Amateurs and Artists: Early Photography and Plymouth at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, on display 9th April to 30th July 2011. Out of the Ordinary, a group exhibition of work by members of the Royal Photographic Society, South West Contemporary Group is on display at Sherwell Centre, University of Plymouth, 9th to 27th May 2011. The third exhibition, Chemical Traces, is a response to Amateurs and Artists: Early Photography and Plymouth, and will be on display in Scott Building, University of Plymouth. Tours of these exhibitions form part of the conference on Friday and there will be a special viewing of Amateurs and Artists on Friday, 5.30 – 7.00 pm.

The speakers, who represent a wide range of photographic expertise: curators, university staff, photohistorians and contemporary photographers, include Carolyn Bloore, Jon Blyth, Colin Ford, Rod Fry, Michael Gray, John Hannavy, Jenny Leathes, Richard Morris, Nigel Overton, Matthew Pontin and Jem Southam. Speakers correct at time of printing.

Friday 13th May and Saturday 14th May 2011 10.30am-5.00pm. Main speakers and lecture programme. 

Saturday 14th May 2011 7.30 pm (Optional)
Conference Dinner, Jurys Inn, 50 Exeter Street, Plymouth. Menu options are to be pre-booked, see menu choice sheet and booking form. The cost is an additional £19.95. Jurys Inn is conveniently located for the Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth and Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery in Drakes Circus, Plymouth. Preferential rates have been agreed for overnight accommodation with Jurys Inn. See rates at bottom of menu choice sheet and booking information.

*Sunday 15th May 2011 Events 11.30 am – 4.00 pm (Optional)
A calotype demonstration. Revisiting the site of William Henry Fox Talbot’s photograph, The Victualling
Office, Plymouth, 1845, a view from the Battery at Mount Edgcumbe across Plymouth Sound. Meet at the
Orangery, (café) Mount Edgcumbe, 11.30 am. The Cremyll ferry leaves Admirals Hard, Stonehouse,
Plymouth at 11.15 am (ferry time 8 minutes). Departure times, 09.15 quarter to and quarter past the hour
until 21.15. Return journey depart Mount Edgcumbe 09.00 on the half hour and hour until until 21.00.
Single fares only £1.20.

2.30 – 4.00 pm Reconstruction of the position of the early 19th century Camera Obscura on The
Promenade, Plymouth Hoe. An opportunity to view the optics and the panorama within the Fotonow
VW Camper Obscura. The Fotonow VW Camper Obscura will be on this site, Friday – Sunday, 13th – 15th
May, 9 am until 6.30 pm.

Conference fee £50 per person  Conference dinner £19.95 per person (optional)

Booking forms and information can be downloaded from: http://www.rps.org/events/view/2052?m=0&y=2011&d=&t=0&g=Historical&r=0&reset=reset

For further information please contact:
Jenny Ford, Secretary, RPS Historical Group
Jennyford2000@yahoo.co.uk or tel. 01234 881459

Although BPH is not particularly commercially orientated every so often something comes along which deserves making a fuss of. British auction house Bonhams has a copy of Reports by the Juries (1851) up for auction on 7 June 2011. This particular copy was presented by W H F Talbot to his daughter Matilda in 1860 and come by descent to the present owner so it is reasonable to assume that it has come from Lacock Abbey. The lot is estimated at a very reasonable £20,000-30,000 for what is a rather wonderful item with exceptional provenance.

The lot can be found here http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/wspd_cgi.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?screen=lotdetails&iSaleItemNo=5006378&iSaleNo=18847&iSaleSectionNo=1 and the lot description and footnote is reproduced below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot No: 67•

GREAT EXHIBITION and W.H. FOX TALBOT
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, 4. vol., ONE OF FIFTEEN COPIES GIVEN BY THE COMMISSIONERS TO WILLIAM HENRY FOX TALBOT, this copy inscribed by Talbot at the foot of the specially printed tipped-in presentation leaf to "his dear daughter Matilda 1st January 1860", 154 MOUNTED CALOTYPES, captioned on the mounts, images 175 x 224mm., 3 chromolithographed plates by Day & Son, some light occasional foxing (images unaffected), original red morocco by Riviére, title of each volume and the crowned monogram of Victoria and Albert stamped in gilt on covers and spines, red morocco turn-ins with gilt Greek key pattern, blue watered silk endpapers with gilt stamped Royal insignia between Victoria and Albert monograms, g.e, folio (347 x 255mm.), Spicer Brothers, Wholesale Stationers, W. Clowes & Sons, Printers, 1852

Estimate: £20,000 - 30,000, € 23,000 - 34,000
Request Condition Report

Footnote:
TALBOT'S MAGNIFICENT PRESENTATION COPY TO HIS DAUGHTER, MATILDA.

As inventor of the calotype, and the holder of the patent, Talbot agreed to accept fifteen copies of the Reports (each valued at £30), in lieu of what he might have received by exercising his rights under the patent for the calotypes used.

Nikolaas Henneman (Talbot's one time photographic assistant) was responsible for printing all 20,150 photographs needed for the Reports, of which 130 copies were printed, from albumenised glass plate negatives and calotype paper negatives by Claude Marie Ferrier and Hugh Owen respectively. Henneman was commissioned by the Royal Commissioners and Executive Committee of the Great Exhibition to undertake the printing of the positives on Talbot's silver chloride paper. However, as Talbot commented at the time, "[the Committee] are so extraordinarily stingy, notwithstanding they have a surplus of £200,000, and make such hard conditions with [Henneman], that it is doubtful whether he will earn anything by his labour" (Gernsheim, p.207). One hundred and thirty copies of the Reports were printed, each set comprising four volumes containing 154 calotype prints, for presentation to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Cabinet Ministers, foreign governments and institutions such as the British Museum. The Great Exhibition is today often thought to be synonymous with various decorative arts, but many of the calotypes serve to remind that British engineering and technology were very much in the minds of the Commissioners, including Crampton's locomotive (illustrated) and Naysmyth's steam hammer.

Provenance: William Henry Fox Talbot, presented to his daughter Matilda in 1860; and thence by direct decent to the current owner.