X.1067, 1

Imprint: London: Spicer Brothers, wholesale stationers; W. Clowes and Sons, Printers; Contractors to the Royal Commission. MDCCCLII.

Folio, full red morocco, 365 x 282 mm, stamped in gilt on upper and lower boards, 'Exhibition MDCCC.LI Reports by the Juries,' with royal crest beneath and double fillets in blind, roll-tooled turn-ins in gold, spine decoration in gilt, edges gilt, blue watered silk linings, with royal coat of arms stamped in gilt on front pastedown, printed half-title reading 'Presented by Her Majesty's Commissioner for the Exhibition of M.D.CCC.LI. to the Honourable East India Company.' The respective contributions of the two photographers concerned in the production of this work are not individually credited. It is, however, possible to produce a reasonably accurate division of their work on stylistic grounds, the physical appearance of the prints, the subsequent exhibition of a number of the images and (in Owen's case), the presence of the monogram 'H. O.' which can be seen on most of his photographs (possibly all: edge fading and cropping may be responsible for its absence on a number of prints which can be credited to him with some confidence). Of the 155 prints that appear in the four volumes, 70 were subsequently displayed in the 1852 photographic exhibition of the Royal Society of Arts, 42 by Claude-Marie Ferrier and 28 by Hugh Owen (see 'Photographic Exhibitions in Britain 1839-1865,' online at http://www.peib.org.uk, for the catalogue listings). The catalogue titles can be linked to the photographs in these volumes and thus supply positive attributions. A further few prints that did not appear at this exhibition, but are signed with Owen's monogram, also supply an attribution. Thus, of the total of 155 prints, there remain 79 whose authorship is open to question. Of this number, four are credited to Owen in this catalogue and the remaining 75 to Ferrier. While there must remain a certain level of doubt as to these attributions, the majority can be ascribed to the respective photographers with a reasonable degree of confidence, from their physical appearance and condition, size and original process. While Owen was working with paper negatives, Ferrier worked the albumen on glass process, and the relative differences of sharpness and contrast between the two processes offers a useful starting point in separating the two men's work. While by no means infallible, comparison from this point of view is supported by the appearance of those prints that can be positively identified. Additionally, Owen's work is generally in a slightly larger negative size than Ferrier's and has a much softer tonal scale. In terms of print coloration, Ferrier's work is generally much darker and colder in tone.For a detailed account of the production of this work, see Saskia Asser, 'A handsome and highly finished present. Foto's voor de juryrapporten van de Great Exhibition, 1851' (Bulletin van het Rijks Museum, vol. 53, no. 2, 2005, pp. 141-177, with English summary, pp. 229-233).