THE SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAPHING RELICS OF OLD LONDON, 1867-1878

A group of carbon prints (14), mounted to blue period card, with printed border, title, date, and attributions in right margin, image sizes approx. 235 x 185 mm (or the reverse), card sizes 460 x 360mm (or the reverse), some numbered within the negative, comprising prints by both Henry Dixon and A&J Bool. Including views of 102 Leadenhall Street, 1878; The Sir Paul Pindar, Bishopsgate Street, 1878; Temple Bar, 1878; St Bartholomew the Great, 1877; St Bartholomew the Great and Cloth Fair, 1877; Cloth Fair, 1877; The Oxford Arms, Warwick Lane, 1875 (2); Lincon’s Inn: Old Square, 1867; Old Houses in Drury Lane, 1867 (2); Lincoln’s Inn Gateway, 1867; Old Houses in Wych Street, 1867 (2).

Founded in 1875, The Society for Photographing Relics of Old London was initially formed to record and preserve the Oxford Arms, a 17th-century coaching inn near St Paul’s Cathedral which had been marked for demolition. The group commissioned Alfred and John Bool to document the inn, and their glass plates were in turn printed by Henry Dixon & Sons. The group then sold the prints by subscription, which proved so popular that they went on to commission 120 photographs over the next 12 years. The present lot contains two views of the Oxford Arms, prior to its ultimate demolition in 1876.