About this Title :

Synopsis:

The invention of photography in the first half of the 19th century gave people a completely different way of recording what was happening around them and soon professional and amateur photographers were turning their lenses onto every subject imaginable - monarchs and politicians, soldiers at war, industry and transport, farming and rural life, national celebrations, ordinary people at home and at work, entertainers and actors, fashion, sport, school and much else. Their work has given us a unique view of our nation's heritage. This volume looks at the major events, people and stories of the 1850s through photographs that reveal the essence of those times. Britain in 1850 was a country brimming with confidence. Its engineers were the best in the world and its navy was the largest. Its growing empire stretched around the globe, and trade and industry were booming. The mood of optimism found the perfect expression in the Great Exhibition of 1851. Victoria and Albert, the devoted royal couple, set the moral tone, becoming the model of respectability for Victorian families. Yet poverty was all around, as city slums filled to bursting and emigration reached its peak. Relive these times in the dramatic and moving pictures presented in this book.

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