10804.f.6

Imprint: London: Maull and Polyblank, 55, Gracechurch Street, & 187A, Piccadilly. W. Kent & Co., 86, Fleet Street.

Quarter leather and red buckram quarto volume (stab-sewn), British Museum binding, measuring 310 x 263 mm, containing 40 albumen print portraits, laid down within gold borders with photographer's credit beneath each image, with accompanying letterpress biographical notices and with original wrappers bound in. The work was published by Maull and Polyblank in 40 monthly parts from May 1856 to August 1859, each part costing 5s and consisting of title-page wrapper, original mounted print and letterpress biographical notes (generally 2pp.). Parts 1-2 (May-June 1856) appeared under the imprint of Maull and Polyblank alone, parts 3-14 (July 1856-June 1857) in association with David Bogue and parts 15-40 (July 1857-August 1859) in association with W. Kent and Co. (late D. Bogue). The biographical notices for parts 1-4 were written by Herbert Fry, the remainder by Edward Walford. The complete collection also includes a titlepage dated 1859 and styled volume 1. However, a handwritten note on the wrapper of part 40, dated 5 November 1860, states 'No more published.' This was the first, and perhaps the most accomplished, of the many compilations of photographic portraits of contemporary celebrities which appeared in England in the latter half of the 19th century.Most of the portraits included in the series were exhibited (many repeatedly) in photographic exhibitions in the late 1850s and where traced, these are noted in the individual print listing. For a full list of work shown by Maull and Polyblank in the 1850s and 1860s, see 'Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839-1865' (http://www.peib.org.uk).