[Thomson, John and Smith Headingley, Adolphe] | Street Incidents

[Thomson, John, and Adolphe Smith Headingly]

Street Incidents. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1881

4to (270 x 203 mm). 21 woodburytypes, each with printed caption and red ruled border. Publisher's green pictorial cloth, decoratively stamped in gilt and black; expertly recased.

"The first photographic social documentation of any kind" (Gernsheim).

Thomson's photographs in Street Life in London and the present Street Incidents, alongside the commentary upon the images by Thomson and Adolphe Smith, depict a London in which life is a harsh and continuous struggle. The characters on view here are familiar to us more from Dickens's novels or from an idea of the Whitechapel of Jack the Ripper than from any nostalgic image of a strait-laced or patrician Victorianism. Thomson and Smith are, however, sympathetic to the objects of their study and seem intent on cataloguing the variety of "types" to be found rather than attempting any Barnum-like categorization. As Thomson himself writes: "The precision and accuracy of photography enables us to present true types of the London poor and shield us from the accusation of either underrating or exaggerating individual peculiarities of appearance."

It is "a pioneering work of social documentation in photographs and words ... one of the most significant and far-reaching photobooks in the medium's history" (Parr & Badger).

This second abridged issue, with variant title (i.e., renamed Street Incidents) and complete with 21 plates and text leaves numbered 45-100. 

REFERENCES:

Cf. Gernsheim, p. 447; cf. Hasselblad 42; cf. Parr & Badger I:p.48; cf. Truthful Lens 169