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Hill and Adamson Calotypes

 Collection — Container: Hill and Adamson
Identifier: Coll-1073
Hill and Adamson Calotypes
Hill and Adamson Calotypes

Scope and Contents

This collection comprises four albums compiled by Andrew Elliot senior, a nephew of D. O. Hill, around 1916-1920. They include both priginal calotype prints by D. O. Hill dating from the 1840s, and copy prints (mostly carbon prints) from the early 20th century. There are also four boxes containing pages of the albums removed for an exhibition, and two additional boxes of original calotypes.

The photographs depict mostly (but not only) ministers present at the Disruption of 1843, who later became clergymen of the Free Church of Scotland. Portraits of other ministers outside the Free Church also feature, as well as many portraits of laymen and women, including a large section of photographs taken in Newhaven, Edinburgh of fishermen and fishwives. There are also landscape photographs of key landmarks and areas of Edinburgh and St Andrews, including The Scott Monument and its architect and builders, Greyfriars Kirkyard, and Calton Hill. Although smaller in number, there are a few portraits of women, largely the wives, sisters, and daughters of the ministers of the Free Church, but also some famous women such as Isabella (Burns) Begg, and Lady Elizabeth Eastlake.

A number of notable individuals appear in the collection, including: Robert Adamson, photographer and chemist; James Ballantyne, solicitor, editor and publisher of Sir Walter Scott and the Novelist's Library; Isabella (Burns) Begg, author and sister to Robert Burns; David Brewster, Principal of the University of Edinburgh; Thomas Chalmers, Principal of University of Edinburgh; Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn, Solicitor General for Scotland; Lady Elizabeth Eastlake, author; Alexander Campbell Fraser, Scottish theologian and philosopher; John Gladstone, politician and owner of enslaved people; David Octavius Hill, photographer and painter; Peter Jones, also known as Kahkewāquonāby, First Nations chief and missionary in Canada; George Meikle Kemp, architect of the Scott Monument; Robert Knox, physician, and known for his involvement in Burke and Hare murders; Robert Liston, surgeon; Alexander Monro Tertius, anatomist; and Dhanjabhai Nauroji, first modern convert to Christianity from the Zoroastrian religion.

Dates

  • Creation: 1840s (date of calotypes)
  • Creation: 1916-1920 (date of albums' compilation)

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Biographical / Historical

In the mid-1840s, the Scottish painter-photographer team of Hill and Adamson produced the first substantial body of self-consciously artistic work using the newly invented medium of photography, one which ranks among the highest achievements of photographic portraiture. A substantial quantity of their work is held by the University Library. During their four year collaboration, which only ended with the death of Adamson, they produced around 3,000 images, around 700 of which are available in this collection.

Andrew Elliot senior (1830-1922), a nephew of D. O. Hill, took over the Edinburgh business of Hill's brother Thomas, who had been a well established bookseller and printseller. Thomas Hill's business was located at 17 Princes Street and Andrew Elliot took over the business in 1898. The stock included a quantity of D. O. Hill's calotype negatives and prints. Elliot clearly saw the potential of this trove of material, and conceived a project to create compilation albums of original photographic prints (and occasionally negatives) by D. O. Hill, and of copy prints (mostly carbon prints) commissioned from Jessie Bertram, an Edinburgh-based photographer (of 138 Rose Street), who worked from Hill's original paper negatives, and was advised by the artist Pittendreich McGillivray.

Full Extent

628 photographs (6 albums, 5 boxes, 1 box-file)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The albums were sold to New College Library, now part of Edinburg University Library. The collection was transferred to the Heritage Collections department for safekeeping.

Related Materials

Hill and Adamson Collection at Art Institute of Chicago [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at George Eastman House [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at Glasgow School of Art [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at J. Paul Getty Museum [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at National Gallery of Canada [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at National Gallery of Scotland [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at National Portrait Gallery, London [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at Metropolitan Museum of Art [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at Museum of Modern Art [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at Preus Museum [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at University of St Andrews [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]
Hill and Adamson Collection at Victoria & Albert Museum [external link, accessed on 1 September 2025]

Title
Hill and Adamson Calotypes, 1840s
Description rules
Isad(g)2
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository

Contact:
Centre for Research Collections
University of Edinburgh Main Library
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LJ Scotland
+44(0)131 650 8379