# Edinburgh Calotype Club

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[John Muir Wood](/source/John_Muir_Wood), Staffa near [Fingal's Cave](/source/Fingal's_Cave) (with seated figure who might be photographer), c. 1850

The **Edinburgh Calotype Club** (1843 – c.1850s) of Scotland was the first photographic club in the world.[1] Its members consisted of pioneering photographers primarily from [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh) and [St Andrews](/source/St_Andrews). The efforts of the Club's members resulted in the production of two of the world's earliest assembled photographic albums, consisting of more than 300 images.[1]

## Foundation

The group was formed after the introduction of [calotype photography](/source/Calotype) to Edinburgh gentlemen by [David Brewster](/source/David_Brewster), then Principal of [St Andrews University](/source/St_Andrews_University), and also a close friend of the inventor of the calotype process, [Henry Fox Talbot](/source/Henry_Fox_Talbot). Talbot sent Brewster examples of his work well before publishing on his findings, and it was Brewster who suggested that Talbot should only [patent](/source/Patenting) his invention in England, and not Scotland, which eventually allowed for the club's formation.[2]

Talbot sent Brewster examples of his calotype photography, but Brewster had to turn to a colleague at St Andrews, the Professor of Chemistry Dr [John Adamson](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Adamson_(chemist)&action=edit&redlink=1), in order to discover how to reproduce his friend's process.[3] Although John Adamson was the first person in Scotland to use calotype photography, it was his brother, [Robert](/source/Robert_Adamson_(photographer)), who was to take up photography as a passion and a profession, eventually establishing the country's first photographic studio, [Hill & Adamson](/source/Hill_%26_Adamson), with painter and pioneering photographer [David Octavius Hill](/source/David_Octavius_Hill).[3]

A visit from [James Montgomery](/source/James_Montgomery_(priest)), who was studying in Edinburgh to enter the [Faculty of Advocates](/source/Faculty_of_Advocates), and a group of friends who were interested in Brewster's and John Adamson's reproduction of the calotype process, allegedly led to the formation of the Edinburgh Calotype Club itself.[1]

## Membership

David Brewster (1781-1868), c. 1850s

The membership of the Club was composed of professional gentlemen from a variety of backgrounds - including clerics, academics and physicians - in both Edinburgh and St Andrews. Meetings of the club are described as being generally informal, and retrospective on the Club from an 1874 edition of *[The British Journal of Photography](/source/The_British_Journal_of_Photography)* states that had "neither laws, office-bearers, or formalities of any kind":[4]

"The meetings were held periodically at the houses of the members alternately, and generally each took the form of a breakfast, although when some greater step than ordinary had been made in advance it was generally honoured by being introduced to the members at a formal dinner."[4]

Despite the lack of records, the names of eight members have been traced, and the albums themselves include the names of five members as well as a number of associates.[1]

### Notable members

The club's membership included many notable figures of the time, particularly from Edinburgh and St Andrews, including:

- - John Adamson (1810-1870), doctor and chemist in [St Andrews](/source/St_Andrews) - [David Brewster](/source/David_Brewster) (1781-1868), Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, and writer - [John Cay](/source/John_Cay) (1790-1865), advocate - [Cosmo Innes](/source/Cosmo_Innes) (1798-1874), Scottish historian and antiquary - [James Calder Macphail](/source/James_Calder_Macphail) (1821-1908), minister - [James Montgomery](/source/James_Francis_Montgomery) (1818-1897), advocate and Episcopalian clergyman - [Mark Napier](/source/Mark_Napier_(historian)) (1798-1879), historian - [Hugh Lyon Playfair](/source/Hugh_Lyon_Playfair) (1786-1861), Provost of [St Andrews](/source/St_Andrews) - [Henry Fox Talbot](/source/Henry_Fox_Talbot) (1800-1877), inventor and pioneer of photography - [George Moir](/source/George_Moir) (1800-1870), advocate and author - [Robert Tennent](/source/Robert_Tennent_(photographer)) (1813-1890) and his younger brother [Hugh Lyon Tennent](/source/Hugh_Lyon_Tennent) (1817-1874)[1]

## Dissolution

The Edinburgh Calotype Club continued meeting until sometime in the 1850s; although the exact date when it ceased to exist is not known, curators at the [National Library of Scotland](/source/National_Library_of_Scotland) suggest that it was likely around the mid 1850s, "when the albumen and collodion processes superseded the calotype... The Edinburgh Calotype Club had, in a sense, outlived its usefulness."[1] The development of newer photographic technologies meant that photography was opened to a wider audience, and "spread like wildfire over the country."[4]

Some members of the Club, in particular David Brewster, George Moir and Cosmo Innes, went on to become active in the later [Photographic Society of Scotland](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Photographic_Society_of_Scotland&action=edit&redlink=1) that was founded in 1856. Brewster became the President of the Photographic Society of Scotland, Moir one of its two vice presidents, and Innes a council member.[5]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-NLSalbum_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-NLSalbum_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-NLSalbum_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-NLSalbum_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-NLSalbum_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-NLSalbum_1-5) ["History"](http://digital.nls.uk/pencilsoflight/history.htm). *Pencils of Light: The Albums of the Edinburgh Calotype Club*. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-DNBBrewster_2-0)** A.D., Morrison-Low (2004). ["Brewster, Sir David (1781–1868)"](http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3371). *[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography#Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)* (online ed.). Oxford University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/ref:odnb/3371](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F3371). Retrieved 2 November 2013. (Subscription, [Wikipedia Library](https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/partners/88/) access or [UK public library membership](https://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Hundred_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Hundred_3-1) ["An Hundred Pictures in Calotype by Hill & Adamson"](https://www.capitalcollections.org.uk/index.php?a=ViewItem&i=28299&WINID=1383391274924#aABPGqHKg8MAAAFCGIiFLA/28299). *Capital Collections*. Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 2 November 2013.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Reminiscence_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Reminiscence_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Reminiscence_4-2) J.T. Taylor; et al. (eds.). [*The British Journal of Photography, Volume XXI*](https://archive.org/stream/britishjournalp01socigoog#page/n395/mode/2up). London: Henry Greenwood. p. 385. Retrieved 2 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Stubbs, Peter. ["PSS History"](http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/3/3_pss_history_1856_mar.htm). *Edinphoto.org.uk*. Retrieved 2 November 2013.

## External links

- [Albums of the Edinburgh Calotype Club](https://web.archive.org/web/20100109044301/http://www.nls.uk/pencilsoflight/history.htm) digital gallery from the [National Library of Scotland](/source/National_Library_of_Scotland)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edinburgh Calotype Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Calotype_Club) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Calotype_Club?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.