Francis Frith
Francis Frith , sometimes also Frances Frith , (born October 31, 1822 in Chesterfield , Derbyshire , † February 25, 1898 in Cannes , France ) was an English photographer who became famous for his photographs of the Orient and many British cities.
Life
Frith attended Quaker School in Ackworth and then in Birmingham on Quaker Camp Hill before starting a cutlery business . In 1850 he opened a studio for photography in Liverpool under the company Frith and Hayward. In later years he expanded his business to include the trading of photographic articles and the printing of photographs. In 1853 he became a founding member of the Liverpool Photographic Society .
In 1855 Frith sold his shops and from then on devoted himself intensively to photography. He traveled to the Orient three times : in 1856 to Egypt with very large format cameras (16 × 20 inches) and used the Collodion process to develop it , which represented a major technical advance in a hot and dusty environment. His two other trips took him to Palestine and Syria until 1859 . The diaries he kept during these journeys tell of the difficulties he and his technology faced and the search for the right angle or foreground for his recordings.
After returning to England, Frith opened the Francis Frith & Co. publishing house in Reigate ( Surrey ), which dealt with the distribution of reproductions of his photos, and married Mary Ann Rosling. The publisher was to be engaged in an enormous project in the future to capture photographs of the monuments and other interesting views from every town and town in Great Britain (then including Ireland ). The recordings were initially made by Frith himself, later by employees. His company grew into one of the largest studios in the world and expanded to include the production and distribution of postcards.
Quaker
In 1872 Frith was appointed clergyman of the Quaker Free Church (recorded). He participated in the administration of the Church, was a member of various committees and lectured on the subjects of abstinence and pacifism . In the last fifteen years of his life he advocated a more liberal direction within the Quaker Church, away from the orthodox, doctrinal ideas that still prevailed at the time. He was thus a pioneer of the reforms that shaped the current image of the Quakers as an association of philanthropic and educated believers.
Death and afterlife of his company
Frith died in Cannes in his own villa. His family continued to run the company until it was sold in 1968. In 1970 it was wound up. The archive was taken over as a whole by the Rothmans tobacco company and thus saved from being dismembered. An employee of Rothmans, John Buck, took over the archive in 1977 and has since published some of the recordings under the name The Francis Frith Collection .
Publications
- Egypt and Palestine. Anthology with 58 original photographs and explanatory texts, albumen prints , mounted. Half-leather with title on the back and gilt edging, Virtue, London ca.1860.
- Egypt, Sinai, and Jerusalem: a Series of Twenty Photographic Views; with descriptions by Sophia Lane Poole (1804-1891) and Reginald Stuart Poole (1832-1895) , London: James S. Virtue, [after 1858]. 20 albumen silver prints, sheet: 53.3 × 73.6 cm. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2004-0006E.
- Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia: Illustrated by One Hundred Stereoscopic Photographs Taken by Francis Frith for Negretti and Zambra , with Description and Numerous Wood Engravings by Joseph Bonomi ; notes by Samuel Sharpe . Smith Elder, London 1862.
- Photographs of Egypt and the Holy Land. introduction by Caroline Williams , American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, Egypt 1999, ISBN 977-424-516-4 .
- The Nahe valley 1870 online edition dilibri Rhineland-Palatinate
- New editions partially commented
- David Swindell: The Rhine in early photos, photographed by Francis Frith in 1863. Houber / Rhein-Mosel-Verlag, Briedel , Mosel 1986, ISBN 3-929745-34-8 .
- T. Sackett and E. Sackett: Francis Frith's Dorset Churches. Solitary Print Books, 2000.
- Martin Dunning: Francis Frith's the South Hams . Frith Book Company, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England 2000, ISBN 1-85937-220-1 .
- Martin Dunning: Francis Frith's the Cornish Coast . Frith Book Company, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England 2000, ISBN 1-85937-163-9 .
- Martin Andrew: Francis Frith's Nottinghamshire. revised Edition of Original Work. Frith Book Company, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England 2000, ISBN 1-85937-187-6 .
- John Bainbrdidge: John Frith's Dorset Coast . Frith Book Company, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England 2001, ISBN 1-85937-299-6 .
- Viv Wilson: Francis Frith's Teignmouth . Frith Book Company, Salisbury, England 2002, ISBN 1-85937-370-4 .
- John Sergeant: Britains First Photo Album . Frith Book Company, Salisbury, England 2012, ISBN 978-1-84589-578-5 .
literature
- Maureen Anderson: Francis Frith's England in the 1880s . Frith Book Co., Salisbury, Wiltshire, England 2001, ISBN 1-85937-331-3 .
- Douglas Robert Nickel: Francis Frith in Egypt and Palestine. A Victorian Photographer abroad. Princeton University Press, Princeton , New Jersey 2004, ISBN 0-691-11515-X .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Frith, Francis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Frith, Frances |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English photographer and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 31, 1822 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chesterfield , Derbyshire , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 25, 1898 |
| Place of death | Cannes , France |