Trailblazing Victorian photos now on show

A fascinating exhibition of Victorian era photographs is now on show at Bury’s Tourist Information Centre.

The pictures are from the Francis Frith collection, taken in the early 1900s, alongside the same shots taken by photography students in 2012.

Francis Frith was the Victorian founder of the world famous photographic archive. He was a devout Quaker who was already a multi-millionaire by 1860, having established a wholesale grocery business in Liverpool. Photography became his passion and by the 1870s he started to sell photographic souvenirs to “tourists” who were beginning to take advantage of the new and expanding railway network.

Frith’s ambition was to photograph every town and village in Britain so he travelled the country by train and pony trap for 30 years producing fine photos of scenes, each one composed with tourism in mind. He started selling photo-souvenirs and postcards which the Victorian public pasted into treasured family albums.

The exhibition will be on display until 24 February at the Tourist Information Centre, which is in Moss Street, Bury and is open from 10am to 5pm (Monday to Friday) and 10am to 4pm (Saturday and Sunday).

ENDS

Press release issued: 25 January 2013.

Picture attached: Part of the Francis Frith exhibition.