Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs

Snap back to the days when photography was a rare, expensive pursuit as the British Library brings its remarkable photography collection to light.

Points of View at London's British Library

Photography today is a fundamental part of everyday life. But when it was invented 170 years ago, it was an expensive, elaborate and experimental pursuit for gentlemen.

This new exhibition at the prestigious British Library explores how photography was developed, industrialised and democratised through the 19th century.

See more than 250 rarely seen images from 1839 to the early 20th century as photography grew into a form of social documentary, visual expression and art.

Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs

Points of View is the British Library's first-ever major photographic exhibition.

The 250 exhibits are taken from the British Library's collection of over 300,000 images, including the daguerreotype and calotype, negatives, x-ray photographs and spirit photography.

Highlights include:

• An Oak Tree in Winter by William Henry Fox Talbot c.1842-43: example of Talbot's calotype process, announced in 1940, which produced a paper negative from which unlimited prints could be made
• The Hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, London by Don Juan Carlos, Duke of Montizon, 1852: the arrival of Obaysch the hippo from Egypt in 1850 caused great excitement and doubled the zoo's visitor numbers
• Dictyola Dichotoma by Anna Atkins, 1843-53: one of only 12 surviving copies of Anna Atkins' 450 "photograms" of algae specimens
• X-ray Photograph of Frogs by Josef Maria Eder and Eduard Valenta, c.1896: the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen's inspired risky amateur photographic experimentations and, later, important practical uses
• Portrait of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, by Lady Alice Mary Kerr, c.1870: a rare example of one of Alice Kerr's intense and compelling portraits
• Printing Kodak negatives by daylight, Harrow, by an unknown photographer, 1891: the growth of amateur photography in the late 19th century represented by Kodak's Harrow factory

Points of View: Events Programme

Alongside the fascinating photography exhibits, the British Library has lined up a rich programme of performances, talks and family events.

Just some of the events announced so far include:

• Imagining The Impossible, 31 Oct: Halloween special on the weird world of spirit photography
• The Wonderful World of Early Photography: A Discovery Day, 7 Nov: family workshops, talks, demonstrations of the Camera Obscura, Magic Lantern and Pinhole cameras, plus advice on your own photography collections
• A Village Lost and Found, 11 Nov: Queen rocker and photography collector Brian May and photo historian Elena Vidal introduce 19th century 3D stereograms
• Late at The Library: Victorian Values, 20 Nov: photography and burlesque-themed night of performances, sideshows, music and Victoriana
• Professor Heard's Peerless Victorian Magic Lantern Show, 29 Nov: find out about the number one entertainment before recorded sound and moving image
• Capture Kings Cross, 27 Feb: mass participation event to creatively photograph the area around the British Library and Kings Cross development