Archibald Burns - Book - Picturesque Bits from Old Edinburgh

Photographs of Edinburgh

Thank you to Robert Evans for sending me the following information about two publications of the book, 'Photographs of Edinburgh with Distinctive Letter Press'.

Robert wrote:

Two Publications

"Archibald Burns' photographs appeared in at least two publications with the same title. Both were probably published in 1868. Here is the citation:

- R. M. Ballantyne, 'Photographs of Edinburgh, with Descriptive Letter Press' (Glasgow: Andrew Duthie, 1868).

13 Photos

"There were at least two different versions published, each containing 13 photographs. One included the note 'Views, Photographed by A. Burns' and the other does not credit the photographer; however, most of the photographs in it are from the same negatives as the first version but cropped differently.

- All the horizontal images have been cropped to verticals.

- Some images are different, so I can't say for sure that all the photos in the second version were by Burns.

Please note that I am referring to these books as 'first' and 'second' versions, but I do not know which was published first."

Text

"Ballantyne's text is identical in the two versions but the first one uses a simple serif font and the second one uses a Gothic font (similar to German books of the period)."

Cartes de Visite

"Three of these cartes-de-visite were in the first book. They are:

- Sir Walter Scott Monument, Princes Street (upper left)

- Edinburgh from the Castle (centre, right)

- Edinburgh Castle from the East Gardens (bottom)

The carte de visite that was not reproduced in the book is

- Burns' Monument and Holyrood Palace &c. (top right)

Cartes de Visite - Edinburgh scenes - Archibald Burns

© Reproduced from the National Museum of Photography Film, and Television
by courtesy of the Science and Society Picture Library. Click here for link to web site.

Carte de visite by Archibald Burns

A different version of the final view, 'Edinburgh Castle from the East Gardens', appears in the second book. Note that the titles of the photos in the books are not necessarily the same as on the cartes de visite."

The Publisher

"These books were part of a larger publishing project by Andrew Duthie of Glasgow that included titles on:

- Glasgow

- The Clyde

- Killarney

- Dublin

- County Wicklow

- The Giant's Causeway

Duthie also published stereo views of Scotland and Ireland. I wouldn't be surprised if some of Burns' work was included in them."

Robert Evans, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: April 15, 2009