Table Of ContentThomas Annan
of Glasgow
Pioneer of the Documentary Photograph
L G
IONEL OSSMAN
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Thomas Annan of Glasgow
Pioneer of the Documentary Photograph
Lionel Gossman
http://www.openbookpublishers.com
©2015 Lionel Gossman
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Gossman, Lionel. Thomas Annan of Glasgow: Pioneer of the Documentary Photograph.
Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0057
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ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-127-4
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ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-130-4
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DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0057
Cover image: Thomas Annan, “Close, No. 46 Saltmarket,” from Glasgow Improvements
Act 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes &c. Taken 1866-71, Plate 22. Albumen Print.
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In his battle against Time, that enemy
of our precarious existence [. . .], it was
in photography, also born of an age-old
longing to halt the moment, to wrest it
from the flux of “durée” in order to “fix”
it forever in a semblance of eternity, that
Proust found his best ally.
— Brassaï1
Contents
Prefatory Note and Acknowledgments ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Paintings 25
3. Portraits 39
4. Landscapes 49
5. The Built Environment 67
6. The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow 89
7. Epilogue 125
Endnotes 127
List of Illustrations 163
Index of Names 177
Prefatory Note and
Acknowledgments
When I graduated from Glasgow University in 1951, my parents followed the
then common practice of having a graduation portrait made of me dressed
in (rented) academic gown and holding my diploma. To this end I was sent
off to the studio of T. & R. Annan in Sauchiehall Street in the heart of the city.
Some years later I became aware of the most admired of the photographic
works of Thomas Annan, who had founded the firm in the 1850s, namely
his still quite frequently discussed and reproduced images of the slums of
Glasgow (The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow, 1871). But it was only in the
spring of 2014 that, thanks to Julie Mellby, Princeton University’s Graphic
Arts librarian, I learned of the treasure trove of early photographic albums
by Annan in Princeton’s Graphic Arts Collection.2 Julie urged me to write an
article for the Princeton University Library Chronicle with a view to acquainting
the Friends of the Library, for whom the Chronicle is primarily intended,
with these unusual and rare works—available only in microform even in
most leading University libraries—and with Annan’s achievement as a
photographer. As a native Glaswegian, I could hardly pass up the opportunity
of spreading the word about Annan, even though, as a retired professor
of French literature, I was also acutely conscious of my limited familiarity
with the history of photography and with the major issues in the field. As
my interest in the topic broadened, however, what was to have been a short
essay of 20-30 pages grew into a considerably longer study—one, moreover,
for which I collected many illustrations. Since neither the longer study nor
the large number of illustrations I had selected could be accommodated by
the Chronicle (even in the form of an online portfolio), it became necessary
to restrict the Chronicle essay to a single work of Annan’s and to seek other
publishing opportunities for the full study. Open Book Publishers was an
