The British Library Catalogue of Photographically Illustrated Books

Detail from Catalogue of Photographically Illustrated Books

"The immense development of photography,… its very great importance as a medium of expression for the diffusion of thought by images, animated or still, and its profound influence exercised by these two methods on the development of civilisation, has given to the world one of the greatest discoveries of all time."
- Georges Potonniée (Translated by Edward Epstean)
History of the Discovery of Photography, 1936

Use this website to search and view information and images from one of the world's most comprehensive collections of photographically illustrated books and texts in many languages relating to the history and development of photography, from 1839 to 1914. You can
   •   read about the scope and history of the project;
   •   perform a simple search;
   •   look for information on a particular book or photograph;
   •   carry out an advanced search for specific combinations of types of information;
   •   view a random selection of photographic images in the photo gallery;
   •   browse a detailed glossary of terms.

For details of how to use the system, see the search tips.
If you have any comments or questions, please contact us.

For information on the British Library's Jerwood Photography Project and a selection of images from the Library's photograph collections, go to the Online Gallery - historic photographs pages.

Orders for reproductions of images found on this website can be placed at: http://www.bl.uk/imaging/index.html


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