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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 118 Collections and/or Records:

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 Item

The temple palace, Medinet Haboo [Habu], 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/35
Scope and Contents

233 x 156 mm. A view showing the ruins of the Palace of Rameses II at Medinet Haboo with an Arab and his horse standing in the courtyard in the foreground.

Dates: 1857
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 town and lake of Tiberias, from the north, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/29
Scope and Contents

226 x 153 mm. A view from the north-west looking over the town and towards the lake with the ruins of the roman castle and a modern brick wall in the foreground

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 town and lake of Tiberias, from the north, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214A/20
Scope and Contents

224 x 151 mm. A view from the north-west looking over the town and towards the lake with the ruins of the roman castle and a modern brick wall in the foreground, about which Frith comments: 'I would have given anything in reason to have been able to play the artist, and omit.'

Dates: 1857
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 town and lake of Tiberias from the south, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/13
Scope and Contents

232 x 152 mm. A view looking towards the houses of the town which run down to the shores of Lake Tiberias, with roman ruins in the foreground, described by Frith as : 'a most wretchedly forlorn and dirty-looking assemblage of houses, or hovels of ultra-oriental character.'

Dates: 1857
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 Tyropean Valley, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/22
Scope and Contents

229 x 156 mm. A view showing a section of southern Jerusalem with thick growths of prickly pear cactus in the foreground, the houses of the town beyond and the dome of the Mosque of Omar visible behind two cypress trees. The remains of ancient bridge or viaduct, known as 'Dr Robinson's Arch' can be seen just to the right of centre of the print .

Dates: 1857
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 Valley of Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/15
Scope and Contents

227 x 160 mm. A view looking along the Valley of Jehoshaphat with the Mount of Olives in the background. In the foreground is the Jewish burial ground with tombstones and sepulchres. The furthest sepulchre is the Tomb of Absalom, the nearest the Tomb of Zechariah.

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 village of Siloam and the Valley of Kidron, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/16
Scope and Contents

227 x 157 mm. A view looking along the valley at the small village of low square houses on the hillside south-east of Jerusalem. This view looks south from the northern end of the village.

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).
 Item

Tiberias, from the south, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/30
Scope and Contents

226 x 157 mm. A view looking towards the houses of the town which run down to the shores of Lake Tiberias, with roman ruins in the foreground.

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

Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/26
Scope and Contents 280 x 155 mm. A view looking along the bare landscape of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, with donkeys standing in the road in the foreground. Frith comments: 'they are situated at a distance of five or six miles from the river, at the extremity of a deep and romantic gorge in the mountains. The entire course of this ravine presents a spectacle of desolate grandeur, which is in the highest degree impressive ... There is not a blade of grass, nor a sign of life except when a...
Dates: 1857
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

View at Girgeh [Jirja], Upper Egypt, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214A/26
Scope and Contents

154 x 226 mm. A view looking towards the Nile with the tower of a ruined mosque standing on the banks and balanced in the composition by two palm trees in the foreground. Frith states that there are also huts in the foreground which were: 'composed of Doura straw, and are the temporary portable homes a troupe of Gawazee, or dancing girls.'

Dates: 1857
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

View at Hebron, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214A/18
Scope and Contents

216 x 145 mm. A view looking over rocky ground (the ruined foundations of a former settlement) towards the western or Jewish quarter of the town, a closely-packed mass of low square buildings surrounded by hills.

Dates: 1857
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

View at Karnac from the granite pylon, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/2
Scope and Contents

227 x 156 mm. A view looking from the granite pylon over the tumbled ruins of Karnac towards two distant obelisks (?obelisks of Thut-mose I and Queen Hat-shepsut).

Dates: 1857
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

View at Luxor, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214A/8
Scope and Contents 230 x 158 mm. A view showing monumental temple columns with a stone wall and a partially obscured obelisk (? the Tuthmoside obelisk) in the background. According to Frith: 'The great columns represented in my picture, with the expanded lotus flower capital, will at once be familiar to every Nile traveller; many of whom I have no doubt, with myself ... have hurried past the superb columns in hot haste to the temple Mustapha-Aga, the native English consular agent, for their letters! ...
Dates: 1857
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

View from Philae, looking north, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214A/11
Scope and Contents

234 x 152 mm. A view showing the temple colonnades at the left of the print with the Nile winding away through a rocky landscape beyond. The island of Philae lies above the Asswan Dam, completed in 1906, and when the sluices were closed, the island was submerged. With the building of the second dam the problem of the survival of the monuments at Philae became acute and a twenty year project to remove the buildings to Agilkia has recently been completed.

Dates: 1857
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

View Hebron, 1860

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214C/8
Scope and Contents

214 x 143 mm. A view looking over rocky ground (the ruined foundations of a former settlement) towards the western or Jewish quarter of the town, a closely-packed mass of low square buildings surrounded by hills.

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

View on the Island of Philae, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/34
Scope and Contents

229 x 152 mm. A view showing part of the temple of Isis and the colonnade leading up to it, with broken rubble and stone in the foreground.

Dates: 1857
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

Wady Kardassy, Nubia, 1857

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y30214B/5
Scope and Contents

229 x 167 mm. A view showing a four pillared ruin on the banks of the Nile. Sir G. Wilkinson named the site 'Gertasse', which Frith expounds on in the commentary which accompanies this print.

Dates: 1857
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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Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 116
Collection 2
 
Subject
Asia (continent) 64
Africa (continent) 56
Israel (nation) 46
Egypt (nation) 36
Upper Egypt (region) 35