After the commercial introduction of photography in the mid-19th century, photographs became a tool to share information, with photographers as documenters of the world at home and abroad.
Photographers and travellers
Scottish photographers travelled around the world, using their cameras to record life away from the public's familiar environment.
- Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819-1900) travelled to Tenerife as Astronomer Royal for Scotland. His book, 'Teneriffe, an astronomer's experiment' was the one of the first ever illustrated by stereoscopic photographs
- William Notman (1826-1891) emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1856 and established an internationally-renowned photography studio. 'Sports pastimes and pursuits of Canada' was published in Montreal in 1866
- John Thomson (1837-1921) images of China and South-East Asia brought the Far East to Victorian Britain. His final foreign trip was to Cyprus, which resulted in 'Through Cyprus with a camera' (1879).
— Read more in our John Thomson web feature
Photographs by Scottish photographers overseas were on display in '"Sun-pictures" and beyond', at the Library from 30 November 2016 to 26 March 2017.