The Signet Library 200th Anniversary Online Exhibition

signet library collection guides

the thomas annan collection of early photography

4.the university of glasgow: old and new

The University of Glasgow, old and new : illustrated with views and portraits in photogravure. Published under the sanction of the Senate of the University. Glasgow : T. & R. Annan and Sons ... James Maclehose & Sons, 1891.

This magnificent volume marked the second publication of Thomas Annan's photographs of the university buildings and senate members of the University of Glasgow. Their first appearance had been as Memorials of the Old College of Glasgow (Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1871), with Annan's 41 albumen silver prints recording the final form of the ancient university prior to its ephocal move to Gilmorehill. Four years after George Washington Wilson accomplished the first concerted series of photographs of Edinburgh interiors, Annan included marvellous interior shots of the old University amongst the external views of its buildings - exceptionally difficult to carry off then, and now treasures beyong price.

In 1891 the University republished Annan's photographs in a marvellous new volume: the Signet Library's copy is no. 7 of the 350 copies printed. It is a highly significant volume from the Signet Library's point of view, containing as it does the only known deliberate images of an unaltered building designed by the Signet Library's own principal architect, the sadly shortlived William Stark.