'Victorian Britain' is traditionally remembered as a nation in industrial development. However, beyond the "satanic mills" overlooking the Dickensian slums alongside teeming docks or in burgeoning industrial cities, blossomed a new world beside the old agricultural and fishing Britain.
'Victorian Britain & Ireland: In Colour' consists of 350 colour images that show some of today's most familiar landmarks as they looked in the time of penny newspapers, as well as illustrating the daily life of the time. The images were made by a photochrom process. In their own time the realistic scenes captured in photochroms were greeted with astonishment. Today they still stand comparison with modern colour photography for their depth and richness.
The pictures encompass a great variety of subjects. The hurly-burly of a London rush hour. The comparative tranquility of a picturesque Devon village. The bustling market of Yarmouth. Carriages waiting outside the citadel at Carlisle. Afternoon loiterers beside the historic Micklegate Bar in York. The accompanying captions add further information about the scenes depicted, drawing any important comparisons with the state of the location today.
