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A collection of 84 glass lantern slides dating from the early part of the twentieth century has been donated to Bath & North East Somerset Council. The photographs depict various scenes in and around Bath including Prior Park, Bath Abbey, the Guildhall and the Botanical Gardens. They are thought to have been taken around 1905, possibly by a surveyor with an interest in Bath's architecture who was engaged in work at Prior Park, the Assembly Rooms and the Guildhall.

They were donated to the Council’s Library Service by a local family who were keen to see them preserved for the future, and to give more people the opportunity to see these fragile images. The slides are now part of the Bath Local Studies Collection housed at Bath Library. The images from each slide can be seen on the Bath In Time Website at www.bathintime.co.uk.

Councillor David Dixon (Lib-Dem, Oldfield), Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “We are delighted that this fantastic collection now forms part of the Local Studies collection and that the images can be appreciated by everyone via the Bath in Time website. Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Library Service continues to play a vital role in ensuring that the story of our local area is preserved, made accessible and understood by everyone.”   

The Council is always pleased to receive donations of material connected with the history of Bath and North East Somerset. Please contact Libraries@bathnes.gov.uk or call Council Connect on 01225 394041.

The Whitehouse Collection held by the Ruskin Foundation at the Ruskin Library contains 125 Daguerreotypes – one-off plates using the first popular process of permanent photography.  The third display in a series of four, this focuses on the Swiss scenes.  John Ruskin travelled to the French and Swiss Alps more often than any other place in Europe, from a childhood visit in 1833, when he was just fourteen, to a few days on the return from his last continental trip in 1888.

His favourite places were Chamonix, where he found perfect mountain scenery, and the towns of Lucerne on its lake, hilly Fribourg, and Rheinfelden with its bridge over the river Rhine.   An early devotee of the Daguerreotype, Ruskin had acquired his own camera by 1849 and made some 40 Swiss subjects before 1858, of which 23 are now in the Ruskin Library.  These are being shown alongside drawings, watercolours, letters and diaries complementing each subject – sometimes exactly, as in the watercolour of the Mer de Glace at Chamonix and drawings of Fribourg.

On show: 16 January-15 April 2012 at the Ruskin Library, University of Lancaster

See: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/ruskinlib/Pages/beautiful.html

Opening times: Gallery: Monday-Friday 10am-4pm - during Exhibitions (closed weekends and Bank Holidays)

Of unconnected - but related interest - is the collection of daguerreotypes purchased in 2006 be Ken Jacobson which are the subject of a forthcoming book see: http://www.jacobsonphoto.com/news/viewnews.html?id=20 and the original news report of the £75,000 sale: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1514218/Mystery-photographs-part-of-Ruskin-collection.html

Professor John Plunkett from the University of Exeter will explore Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s interest in photography as collectors. This lecture also shows them as subjects of the photography industry which was fast becoming a commercial and popular media for disseminating the images of distinguished people and ‘celebrities’.

Details of the lunchtime talk can be found here.

Photo: Copyright Royal Collection.