Souvenir Album of the Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry, Glasgow, 1911, T. & R. Annan
Souvenir Album of the Scottish Exhibition of National History, Art and Industry, Glasgow, 1911.
Published by T. & R. Annan & Sons, 1911, Glasgow. First edition. T. & R. Annan was founded by legendary Glasgow photographer, Thomas Annan, in 1885, and they were official photographers at the Glasgow Exhibitions of 1888, 1901 and 1911. The firm also secured the British rights to the photogravure process of printing in 1883. This high quality process is used here.
Scarce - only 3 copies found in Worldcat.
The book contains 19 high quality photogravure plates (one is missing - entitled 'Archway leading to the old Scottish street'). Each plate has a caption title page preceding it, and all are printed on a thick paper stock.
The photographs are of fine quality as would be expected from Annan. The first image of the Royal procession on opening day, we suspect is a mixture of photography and fine painting. It is particularly noticeable that so many of the images involve people, which makes them much more interesting than the norm.
It is also striking that the temporary buildings created specifically for this exhibition result in a kind of Scottish Disneyland presentation, and it is difficult to imagine that such an exhibition would ever realistically now be staged in Scotland.
Red morocco leather hardback with gilt decoration and Scottish Lion Rampant shield design to front. The cover is poor - bumped, scuffed and rubbed, and missing part of the spine, with the remainder loose. Hinges are split and very weak, and only bound by the fabric binding strips underneath. Endpapers are worn, spotted and with some nibbles and small tears.
The text block itself is actually good - there is age toning to extremities, some thumb marks and light soiling, but the quality of the images shines through.
Text in English.
Title + 1pp reproduction of a translated letter discussing Scottish/German trade in 1297 + 19 plates with their captioned title pages.
Weight: approximately 1.04kg unpacked.
Dimensions:
Approximately 241mm high x 322mm wide x 22mm deep.