The University of Sydney - Sydney University Museums

2.8 Publishing Stereo Photographs

Most stereo photographs were distributed commercially by publishing companies. While many collectors have assumed the publisher was also the photographer this was not always the case. Public demand was such that individual stereo photographs could sell in their thousands. This opened the door for entrepreneurs who bought negatives from photographers and then printed and published them, often without crediting the photographer.

In 1854, George Swan Nottage founded one of the biggest photographic publishing houses in Britain, the London Stereoscopic Company. Selling his stereo photographs for 1s each (1s 6d for coloured) he amassed a huge fortune and eventually became Lord Mayor of London in 1884. Smaller publishers and some stereo photographers continued to publish their own photographs, but paid printing establishments to print their photographs for them. These were highly efficient businesses and as early as 1856 Blanquart-Evrard’s printing establishment in France could make 250 prints from one negative in less than two hours. Ref: Gernshiem (1955: 143-144)

The huge popularity of the stereo photograph and the albumen printing process placed new demands on the British photographic industry. Until the development of viable mechanical techniques for mass production of photographs, actual photographs had to be made for mounting on cards or pasting into books. Amateurs using Talbot’s negative/positive process found few problems when making prints from their negatives. But it was a different story producing thousands of copies of the same negative. Each stereo print required placing a sensitized piece of paper against a negative and exposing it to sunlight. This meant multiple copies could be made from a negative but only one at a time.

George Washington Wilson’s printing works at St. Swithin’s, Aberdeen, in Scotland, covered half an acre and his racks of negative holders were mounted on tables which were rolled out to be exposed directly to the sunlight when fine, but were wheeled under the glass roof when it rained.

Some publishers preferred to rely on a smaller clientele who were prepared to pay for quality stereo images. Lovell Reeve was one of these and in 1858 he published the first book illustrated with stereo photographs, Teneriffe: An Astronomer’s Experiment by Piazzi Smyth. Reeve hired James Glaisher, astronomer, balloonist, and later President of the Photographic Society of London to oversee photography. This required contact printing over 40,000 stereo views for the print run of 2000 copies. These were then cut, trimmed, and pasted on to the pre-printed pages.

In 1858 Reeve also published the first magazine illustrated entirely with stereo views, The Stereoscopic Magazine. In this publication Reeve hoped to highlight the value of stereo photographs as educational aids to diffuse “correct knowledge” and cultivate refined taste. The magazine ran till 1865 producing three images with accompanying text in each issue. Reeve sought out some of the best British stereo photographers of the day. He purchased the rights to use their negatives and employed A.J. Melhuish to make prints from them. As a result of the care and attention which went into the selection and printing of its images the Stereoscopic Magazine had a justifiably high reputation for the quality of its photographs.

Cover for set of 20 Stereoscopic Views of Sydney Published by W. Hetzer, c1860 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection, 83062

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label George Washington Wilson, c1865 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label London Stereoscopic Co., c1860 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label H W Lamb, c1860 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label Samuel Clifford, c1865 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label S Barbet, c1865 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label S Poulton, 1860-66 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection

Back of Stereoscopic Card Publishers label J. R. Clarke, c1872 Macleay Museum, Historic Photograph Collection