Call Number:

PH-00841

Collection Name:

100 Calotypes by D. O. Hill. R.S.A. and R. Adamson

Creator:

No. of Items:

109 photographs in 1 album

Span Dates:

images 1843-1845, assembled 1845

Description:

Album produced by David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848) and either given or sold to the painter Clarkson Stanfield (British, 1793-1867) in 1845. The album's book boards are covered with maroon leather and are embossed with an identical pattern on both the front and back. The leather on the spine is embossed: “100 / CALOTYPE / SKETCHES.”, “D. O. HILL, RSA. / and / R. ADAMSON.”, “EDINBURGH 1845.”. The end sheets are marbleized paper, and most pages still have interleaving sheets. The album is inscribed: "Clarkson Stanfield, Mornington Place, Oct. 1, 1845."

While the title suggests there are 100 images contained in the album, there are actually 109 salted paper prints, most of which are accompanied by inscriptions provided by either Hill or Adamson. The images are of prominent men and women of the day, friends and acquaintances of Hill and Adamson, and scenes of Edinburgh, Newhaven and St. Andrews, and Scottish architecture and art. The nine additional images can explained in several ways. First, six images cover/originally covered other images. It appears that Hill and Adamson did not like their original choice of several images and later mounted different images over the originals. In most cases, the covered image is very similar to another image in the album (compare 964:0048:0044, a covered image, with 964:0048:0045). Second, the first two images in the book appear on the half-title and title page, and therefore may not have been counted as part of the “100” referred to on the title page. And, a third explanation may be that the cover for the album was printed before Hill and Adamson’s selection of images to be included.

Please consult the finding aid for a detailed description of the contents of this album.

Access Restrictions:

This light-sensitive album cannot be paged to the Reading and Viewing Room without curatorial permission. A digital surrogate is available for onsite researchers. For additional information, please contact the Curator of Photography.

Finding Aid URL:

https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00660

Location(s):

Curatorial permission requiredPH-00841 (964:0048:0001-0109)
Click here to request this item from the reading room

Item(s):

See Also:

Hill & Adamson Photography Collection

David Octavius Hill Photography Collection