The Photographic Society of Ireland (PSI) was founded, initially, as the Dublin Photographic Society in 1854. It later changed its name to the Photographic Society of Ireland and it continued in existence up to the last quarter of the 20th Century when it became defunct. By that stage, many other camera societies and clubs had been established around Ireland. The photograph above shows the Council of the PSI meeting in Leinster House (now the home of the Irish Parliament) in 1856. The President, sitting front centre, is Sir John Jocelyn Coghill and sitting to his right (left as viewed) and with both hands on the table is Thomas Grubb, the famous Irish lens and telescope maker.
For the past two years I have been cataloguing the camera and general photographica collection of the PSI on a part time basis for the National Photographic Archive which is part of the National Library of Ireland, NLI/NPA. There were some 260 items in the collection which had been started by PSI just after WWII. I have recently done a short article for NLI/NPA describing some of the most interesting items in the collection.
Among the items in the collection is this Sliding Box Camera from the 1860s with a Grubb Aplanatic Ax lens from the 1870s.
Some of the items came with accompanying photographic material such as this CP Stirns Vest Camera from the 1880s which had been imported by James Robinson of Grafton Street, Dublin.
This plate, which is of the same type as used in the camera shown above, was found in another example of the camera in the collection. It shows six images on the circular plate, which have been converted to positive here.
Some of the items in the collection are extremely rare, such as this Ives Kromskop stereo colour viewer from the1890s which came in a box with a number of plates and the rare original manual, which gives details of the current state of knowledge on colour photography at that time.
I have a lot more information on these and other items in the collection which I will reveal in talks for the National Library of Ireland, the RPS Historical Group and the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain. Dates to be announced.
My article is to be found here https://www.nli.ie/news-stories/stories/eyes-past-unveiling-irelands-photographic-legacy .
William Fagan
Comments