Lot 89
Annan, Thomas
Glasgow Improvements Act 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, etc. taken 1868-71
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
[cover-title] [Glasgow: Thomas Annan, c. 1871]. First edition, large folio (54.2 x 40.1cm), 31 albumen print photographs by Annan (print sizes varying from 27.5 x 22.5cm to 38 x 31cm), mounted on thick card leaves with linen hinges and gilt edges, letterpress list of photographs, each photograph with printed caption on label affixed to lower corner of mounts, original green half morocco lettered in gilt, with portfolio-style cloth flaps, some occasional spotting and dust soiling to card mounts, slight fading to margins of the prints and fading to individual ones, otherwise very good quality, binding worn at extremities, cloth ties replaced, joints of upper board cracking slightly, part of flap covering the fore edge missing.
Together with: John Carrick et al., City of Glasgow, Improvements and New Streets, Plans and Sections. November 1865, [Glasgow]: Gardner & Stevenson, 1865 (large folio (54.8 x 39cm), original green half calf, lithographed double-page title leaf, 21 numbered double-page street plans outlining proposed redevelopment of the relevant streets in brown and black, sections and gradients of redeveloped streets compared with the old ones, with double-page folio of ‘New Plan of Glasgow with Suburbs’ engraved by John Bartholomew, ’constructed for the Post Office Directory' of 1865, the proposed redevelopment areas coloured in red, leaves backed with linen, binding worn and scuffed, head and tail of spine torn, dust soiling to endpapers) (2)
Provenance
The estate of the late Eric Sloane (with his book-label and pencilled ownership inscription to the front free endpaper of Photographs of Streets, Closes, etc.
Footnote
The earliest and most famous photographic record of Glasgow's slums, documenting the plight of the urban poor in Scotland's largest city. The rapid expansion of the city's population in the 19th century led to overcrowded and squalid living conditions in the closes around the High Street and Saltmarket. In 1866 Glasgow Council received approval for the Glasgow Improvement Act which gave it the power to set up a Trust to improve housing. The Trust under the leadership of City Architect John Carrick, subsequently bought up slum property with the intention of demolishing, repairing, selling land for redevelopment or building replacement houses. The photographer Thomas Annan, who had a studio in the city and who specialised in architectural photography, was appointed to record, between 1868 and 1871, the character and conditions of the area prior to demolition.
A few copies (probably around 4-8 volumes) of 31 albumen prints from Annan's original negatives were collected together for the City Improvement Trust in c. 1871. Bound in green morocco leather, the album bore Glasgow’s coat of arms with the motto ‘Let Glasgow Flourish.’ These copies were probably distributed to members of the delegation, led by Lord Provost Blackie, which included Glasgow’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr William Tennant Gairdner, and John Carrick, which had visited the Continent in early 1866 to see examples of slum clearances and rebuilding in European cities.
Some of the prints were also issued singly, and there appear to be variations in the prints, with images taken from slightly different viewpoints. In c. 1877 Annan reprinted the photographs using the carbon process (having acquired the rights to this process in 1867), the resulting carbon prints being cheaper to produce and less prone to fading than the albumen prints. The new edition of c. 60 copies, 'Photographs of Old Closes, Streets, &c., Taken 1868 - 1877' included 9 additional photographs and a contents list. A 1900 reissue of the prints as photogravures was titled ‘The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow,' which is how the prints are most commonly referred to today.
Literature: M. Frizot, The New History of Photography, Cologne, 1998, pp.348-49; M. Haworth-Booth (ed.), Exhibition catalogue, The Golden Age of British Photography, 1839-1900, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1984, pp.142-145; G. Fairfull-Smith. Thomas & James Craig Annan of Glasgow, London: Private Libraries Association, 1999.
