This book, which accompanies a major British Library exhibition, brings together, for the first time, a selection of images from the Library's collections. It examines the history, diversity and influence of photography from its invention and early years up to the growth of a popular amateur market in the early twentieth century. It includes many of the most celebrated names in nineteenth century photography
including Francis Frith, Felix Teynard, Samuel Bourne and Peter Henry Emerson, as well as numerous lesser known names who made significant contributions to the medium.
From its beginnings in the 1840s up to the mass democratisation of photography as a widespread leisure pursuit, the development of the medium was swept along by a tide of artistic and entrepreneurial activity that gathered pace throughout the nineteenth century. It has shaped society as both an art form and a social document and played a critical role as the primary means of visual expression in the modern age.