the thomas annan collection of early photography

Thomas Annan's name is given to the Signet Library's collection of nineteenth century photography both in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the young art and in commemoration of his own brief Edinburgh sojourn at Rock House on Calton Hill, the centre of Edinburgh's photographic gift to the world and home to photographers for a century from Hill and Adamson through to Paul Shillabeer.

William Stark’s Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, originally photographed by Thomas Annan for Memorials of the Old College of Glasgow (Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1871)

Annan's work dominates the collection of nineteenth century photography held by the Signet Library and most if not all of his major published work is present.

Annan's photographs of the University of Glasgow's pre-railway site on the High Street are of particular importance to the Signet Library as they represent the only significant set of photographs taken of a building designed by Signet Library architect William Stark in its original unaltered condition.

The pages in this guide look briefly at the most important books and images in the collection.