c1870 Twenty Photographs of the Orkney Islands by George Washington Wilson

Description

Illustrated, Leather Binding, Very Scarce

A wonderful album consisting of twenty captioned albumen prints of the Scottish Orkney Islands, captured by photographer George Washington Wilson. 

Beginning his career as a portrait miniaturist, Wilson began to work as a portrait photographer in 1852, receiving a contract to photograph the Royal Family, working for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

He went on to pioneer techniques for outdoor photography, focusing on landscape photography from the 1860s onwards. Due to the new ability to mass produce photographic prints, by 1864 he claimed to have sold over half a million images.

The twenty prints in this album include nine images of Kirkwall, the largest town in Orkney, with images of St Magnus's Cathedral and the ruins of the Earl's' Palace; St Magnus Church, Egilsay; Maeshowe; the Stones of Stennes; two images of Stromness; the Old Man of Hoy; the Dwarfie Stone; a cow and cart, titled 'the hoy express'; North Colton; Yesnaby Castle sea stack, and St. Margaret's Hope.