NOW this is going back a bit. It is Glasgow’s Saltmarket, round about 1870, in a plate taken by photographic pioneer Thomas Annan who became famous for documenting the terrible slum conditions around this area.
Annan did far more than that mind you, with photographs of the countryside, Glasgow Cathedral, the mansions of the rich, and portraits of the famous.
But it is his pictures of the dank, narrow passageways into tenements teeming with overcrowding which he is remembered for most.
This image though is on a broader thoroughfare, the Saltmarket looking up, if I’m not misaken, to Glasgow Cross.
Not sure if the crowds were out just to have their photograph taken. Early photography of course required people to stand still for a lengthy exposure, and here the children at the front can’t contain their energy and have become a blur of movement.
Of interest is the Bailie Nicol Jarvie Tavern on the right, named after a character in Walter Scott’s Rob Roy, and latterly the name of a very fine whisky blend, chock-full of malt which has ben discontinued so hang on to it if you have a bottle.
Thomas Annan’s photography has been resurrected in a new book, Thomas Annan Photographer of Glasgow, images from which will be reproduced in tomorrow’s Herald Magazine.
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