[Cecil Beaton]
British Photographers is volume 71 in Walter James Turner’s Britain in Pictures series. The aims of the war-time series (which eventually stretched to over a hundred titles) was to record the British people, their landscape and their culture. Beaton’s text on the history and development of photography in Britain joins an illustrious roll call of authors, including volumes by Vita Sackville-West, Elizabeth Bowen, George Orwell, Graham Greene, John Betjeman and John Piper. Over 48 pages Beaton covers the camera obscura, Fox Talbot versus Daguerre, the democratization of photography, commercial studios, travel and architectural photography, the introduction of colour, society portraits, the influence of America, press images and finally, war photography. The work of Henry Fox Talbot, Roger Fenton, Octavius Hill, Julia Cameron, E.O. Hoppé, Adolph de Meyer, Edwin Blumenfeld, Hugh Cecil and Curtis Moffat are all discussed. The author personally selected the illustrations for the book, which comprise of historic images and several war-time photographs, including those by Beaton himself.
Cecil Beaton. William Collins of London. London. 1944. First edition. Hardback, octavo; Illustrated paper-covered hardback, matching dust jacket. 48 pages. 4 colour and 8 sepia hors-texte photographic plates, 20 b&w photographic text illustrations. English. 225 x 165mm. 0.25kg. . Very good, in good dust jacket; light shelf wear to jacket, light ruffling to spine ends and forecorners, slight toning to spine, slight spotting, residual remains of small sticker to front panel; previous owner's stamp to rear pastedown.
