A Perfect Chemistry: Photographs by Hill and Adamson

This book highlights masterpieces from one of the most famous partnerships in the history of photography: Edinburgh duo David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. Just four years after the new medium of photography was announced in 1839, the pair were producing highly skilled portraits of key members of Edinburgh society. Over the next four years, until Adamson’s early death at the start of 1848, they created several thousand prints encompassing landscapes, architectural views, ‘tableau vivant’ from Scottish literature, photographic reproductions of notable works of art, portraiture, and more. As well as experimenting with this vast range of subjects, they are also pioneers. Their representations of Newhaven fisherfolk are arguably among the first instances of social documentary photography. This beautiful new volume features an essay from Anne M. Lyden, International Photography Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland, along with sumptuous colour photographs detailing around 100 masterpieces from the Galleries’ vast collection of Hill and Adamson’s photography.