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Frith, Francis, 1822 -1898 (photographer)

 Person

Biography

Francis Frith was born on December 7th 1822 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, to a Quaker family (Sackett 1994). He was educated at Ackworth School and Quaker Camp Hill School in Birmingham (Browne and Partnow 1983, p.212). After serving an apprenticeship with a Sheffield cutlery firm, he began a wholesale grocery firm, Liverpool, and later a printing firm (Sackett 1994). He took up photography in 1850 and in the mid-1850s retired from his successful business career. In 1853 he was one of the founders of the Liverpool Photographic Society (Turner 1995, p794). He made his first photographic visit to Egypt in 1856-57. He travelled on the Nile and photographed from Cairo to Abu Simbel. On his return he published a series of views which were enthusiastically received. He made a second trip with his assistant Frank Mason Good in late 1857. A third photographic trip was made in 1859 when Frith travelled beyond the Sixth Cataract. On his return from this third trip Frith set up as a photographer and publisher. His company produced a detailed record of English villages and towns, eventually becoming the largest mass production company in Europe. For a list of Frith photographic publications see: Gernsheim, Helmut (1984), 'Incunabula of British photographic literature : a bibliography of British books illustrated with original photographs'. London: Scolar in association with Derbyshire College of Higher Education.

In 1860 Frith married Mary Ann Rosling. They had five sons and three daughters. Frith died on February 25th 1898. His sons Eustace and Cyril continued the business (Sackett 1994). The firm survived until the 1960s.

Sources:

Browne, Turner and Partnow, Elaine (1983), 'Macmillian biographical encyclopedia of photographic artists and innovators'. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Sackett, Terrance R. (1993) 'Francis Frith'. In: Dictionary of National Biography [CD-ROM]. [S.l.]: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Turner, Jane ed. (1996), 'The dictionary of art'. Volume 11. New York: Grove.

Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:

 Item

Mount Horeb, Sinai, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/2
Scope and Contents

227 x 160 mm. A view looking across the rocky plain of Er-Raha towards the triple summits of Mount Horeb.

Dates: 1860
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Mount Serbal, from the Wadee Feyran, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/3
Scope and Contents 227 x 159 mm. A view from the north looking towards the rocky summit of Mount Serbal, with a valley floor and a gnarled tree which, according to Frith 'gives such great vigour to the picture' in the foreground. He continues, in his commentary: 'Nature is here stripped of the beautiful colours and forms that elsewhere vary her surface, and reduced to the above conditions of her older state. This naked simplicity, apart from the effect of lofty mountains and majestic forms, and of the pure...
Dates: 1860
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

Sinaitic inscriptions in Wadee El-Mukattab, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/6
Scope and Contents

228 x 157 mm. A close up showing inscriptions carved in a rockface at Wadee El-Mukattab.

Dates: 1860
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

The Convent of Sinai and Plain of Er-Raha, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/4
Scope and Contents 225 x 159 mm. A view looking over a harsh and rocky valley landscape. Frith comments: 'In the view we look down the valley in which the convent stands towards the Plain of Er-Raha. The scene is strangely desolate. In the immediate foreground, up to the convent walls, stretches an arid tract strewn with broken fragments of rock, some of which are of vast size, as we see by comparing them with the little encampment in front. The fortress-like convent rises finely in the distance, and...
Dates: 1860
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

The summit of Gebel Moosa, Sinai, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/7
Scope and Contents 219 x 156 mm. A view looking towards the summit of Gebel Moosa from a plateau on lower ground. Frith comments: 'The view is taken from the high irregular plateau from which rises the loftiest summit ... The perpendicular forms of the granite of the rounded height, utterly bared by the storms, rise grandly from the base, covered, like the lower region in the foreground, with washed-down fragments. Immediately before us is a deserted tract, among the loose stones of which grow prickly...
Dates: 1860
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Item

The Wadee El-Mukattab, Sinai, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/5
Scope and Contents 227 x 161 mm. Frith comments:'This view represents a charismatic portion of the Wadee El-Mukattab. To the left is seen the entrance of one of the natural caves in which the district abounds, the supposed dwellings of the ancient Horim. The sharp forms of the rock, the deep shade within, and the graduations of the lighter surface, with its strange Sinaitic inscriptions, are beautifullu rendered. Before the rock a group of thorny desert-shrubs grow from the sand ... In the distance is the...
Dates: 1860
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

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